Conference paper
A low-phase-noise wide-band CMOS quadrature VCO for multi-standard RF front-ends
A low phase noise CMOS LC quadrature VCO (QVCO) with a wide frequency range of 3.6-5.6 GHz, designed in a standard 0.18 μm process for multi-standard front-ends, is presented. A significant advantage of the topology is the larger oscillation amplitude when compared to other conventional QVCO structures.
The QVCO is compared to a double cross-coupled LC-tank differential oscillator, both in theory and experiments, for evaluation of its phase noise, providing a good insight into its performance. The measured data displays up to 2 dBc/Hz lower phase noise in the 1/f2 region for the QVCO, when consuming twice the current of the differential VCO, based on an identical LC-tank.
Experimental results on the QVCO show a phase noise level of -127.5 dBc/Hz at 3 MHz offset from a 5.6 GHz carrier while dissipating 8 mA of current, resulting in a figure of merit of 181.3 dBc/Hz.
| Language: | English |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | IEEE |
| Year: | 2005 |
| Pages: | 539-542 |
| Proceedings: | 2005 IEEE 5th Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium |
| ISBN: | 0780389832 and 9780780389830 |
| ISSN: | 15292517 and 23750995 |
| Types: | Conference paper |
| DOI: | 10.1109/RFIC.2005.1489868 |
0.18 micron 1/f noise 1/f/sup 2/ noise 3.6 to 5.6 GHz 8 mA CMOS VCO CMOS analogue integrated circuits CMOS process Current measurement Displays LC tank MMIC oscillators Noise measurement Phase measurement Phase noise QVCO Radio frequency Topology Voltage-controlled oscillators Wideband low-phase-noise VCO multiple-standard RF front-ends phase noise voltage-controlled oscillators wideband LC quadrature VCO
