Reconfigurable RFICs for frequency-agile VCOs in Si-based technology for multi-standard applications

Author

Mukhopadhyay, R. ; Park, Y. ; Sen, P. ; Srirattana, N. ; Lee, S. ; Nuttinck, S. ; Joseph, A.J. ; Cressler, J.D. ; Laskar, J.

Author_Institution

Georgia Electron. Design Center, Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA

Volume

3

fYear

2004

fDate

6-11 June 2004

Firstpage

1489

Abstract

This paper presents novel reconfigurable RFICs for intelligent radio applications. It includes a new fully tunable active inductor (TAI) along with frequency-agile VCOs. The ICs are implemented on both 0.18 μm Si-CMOS and 0.18 μm SiGe-BiCMOS technologies. The novelty of the TAI lies in the use of a tunable active feedback resistor that results in inductances tunable from 0.1 nH to 15 nH with Q < 50 in C-band. Very wideband reconfigurable VCOs have been implemented using the proposed active inductor, and also with a switched-spiral topology. The VCO tuning ranges are as high as 4 GHz in the C-band. Analysis of the results, taking into account the technologies as well as the circuit topologies, is also presented.

Keywords

CMOS integrated circuits; elemental semiconductors; inductors; network topology; radio applications; radiofrequency integrated circuits; voltage-controlled oscillators; 0.18 micron; C-band; Si-CMOS; Si-based technology; SiGe; SiGe-BiCMOS technology; VCO tuning range; active feedback resistor; circuit topology; frequency agility; frequency-agile VCO; inductances tuning; intelligent radio applications; reconfigurable RFIC; switched-spiral topology; tunable active inductor; wideband reconfigurable VCO; Active inductors; Circuit optimization; Circuit topology; Feedback; Frequency; Radiofrequency integrated circuits; Resistors; Tunable circuits and devices; Voltage-controlled oscillators; Wideband;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 2004 IEEE MTT-S International

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8331-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2004.1338856

Filename

1338856