Low power fundamental VCO design in D-band using 0.13 µm SiGe BiCMOS technology

Two low power fundamental mode voltage controlled oscillators (VCO-I and VCO-II) in the D-band frequency range are presented in this paper. The oscillator core is Colpitts type with an additional common base transistor in cascode configuration to avoid a separate output buffer. The chips are fabricated in a 0.13 μm SiGe BiCMOS HBT technology which offers f_t and f_max of 300 GHz and 500 GHz, respectively. VCO-I has a tuning range from 138.6 to 147.7 GHz while that for VCO-II is from 142.3 to 150.9 GHz. Both oscillators deliver output power from -1 to -6 dBm to 50 Ω load and consume 47 mW from a -2.8 V supply. A phase noise of -77 dBc/Hz at 5 MHz offset frequency was measured.