Colpitts VCOs for low-phase noise and low-power applications with transformer-coupled tank

Author

van der Heijden, E. ; Farrugia, A. ; Breunisse, R. ; Vaucher, C.S. ; Pijper, R.

Author_Institution

NXP Semicond. Res., Eindhoven

fYear

2008

fDate

June 17 2008-April 17 2008

Firstpage

653

Lastpage

656

Abstract

This paper presents two 17 GHz transformer-coupled tank VCOs, implemented in a 0.25 mum SiGe:C BiCMOS technology. The VCOs have different impedance-levels of the LC-tank and the active circuit, showing a trade-off between low phase noise and low power. The VCOs include a 2.7 V supply regulator and the VCO cores dissipate 11 and 4.5 mA respectively from this 2.7 V supply. The measured tuning range for both VCOs is from 16.8 to 17.6 GHz and the phase noise is <-90 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz from the carrier for the complete tuning range.

Keywords

BiCMOS integrated circuits; Ge-Si alloys; microwave oscillators; semiconductor devices; transformers; BiCMOS technology; Colpitts VCO; SiGe; frequency 16.8 GHz to 17.6 GHz; low-phase noise; low-power applications; phase noise; transformer-coupled tank; voltage 2.7 V; Active circuits; BiCMOS integrated circuits; Circuit noise; Impedance; Noise measurement; Phase measurement; Phase noise; Regulators; Transformer cores; Voltage-controlled oscillators; Colpitts; microwave circuits; satellite; transformers; voltage controlled oscillators;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium, 2008. RFIC 2008. IEEE

Conference_Location

Atlanta, GA

ISSN

1529-2517

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1808-4

Electronic_ISBN

1529-2517

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RFIC.2008.4561522

Filename

4561522