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A-189 dBc/Hz FoMT Wide Tuning Range VCO Using Q-Factor Enhancement Technique

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Abstract

A 28-GHz voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with a wide tuning range and a low phase noise is presented in this paper. A PMOS-only cross-coupled pair with a lower flicker noise is exploited to provide the negative resistance. The mechanisms for enhancing the Q-factor of the LC tank at millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequencies are analyzed and applied to optimize the proposed VCO design to obtain a low phase noise. To guarantee accurate oscillating frequencies, distributed interconnections are carefully modeled by EM simulations. Fabricated in a standard 90-nm CMOS process, the proposed VCO achieves a wide tuning range of 20.1 %, from 25 to 30.66 GHz and a low phase noise of −105.47 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset. The current of the core circuit is 10.5 mA under a single 1.2-V supply. The core area of the chip is 0.38 mm × 0.24 mm.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by National Basic Research Program (No. 2010CB327404), National High Technology Research and Development Program (No. 2011AA10305), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61106024) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61306069).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of RF-& OE-ICs, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China

    Faen Liu, Zhigong Wang, Zhiqun Li, Qin Li, Rong Wang, Geliang Yang & Zhu Li

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  1. Faen Liu
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  2. Zhigong Wang
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  3. Zhiqun Li
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  4. Qin Li
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  5. Rong Wang
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  7. Zhu Li
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Correspondence to Zhigong Wang.

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Liu, F., Wang, Z., Li, Z. et al. A-189 dBc/Hz FoMT Wide Tuning Range VCO Using Q-Factor Enhancement Technique. J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves 36, 597–606 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10762-015-0159-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10762-015-0159-3

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