A 0.8–13.4GHz combined voltage-controlled oscillator with an exclusive-OR in 130nm SiGe BiCMOS

Wide-tuning-range voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) design is motivated by applications in broadband communications, radars, phase-locked loops and clock generation/distribution. In this paper, post-layout simulation results of a ring quadrature VCO (QVCO) combined with an exclusive-OR (XOR) to double the frequency in 130nm SiGe BiCMOS technology are presented. The combined VCO can be tuned from 0.8 to 13.4GHz. At 0.8GHz, the VCO consumes 13.98mW of power and generates -45 dBm (32nW) of output power into 50 Ohm loads. At 13.4GHz, it consumes 15.52mW of power and generates -30 dBm (1μW) of output power. In the tuning range, the XOR consumes ~11mW of power. The VCO phase noise at 10MHz offset frequency is -100.1dBc/Hz and -91.5dBc/Hz at 0.8GHz and 13.4GHz, respectively. The VCO figure of merit (FOM) is in the range of -127 to -142. The microchip area is 450×450μm².