Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A 900 MHz low power LC-VCO with improved phase noise performance

  • Published:
Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, we present the design and development of a low-power LC-VCO with improved phase noise performance by implementing a new capacitor divider varactor configuration and a 2nd order notch filter. We propose a new time-weighted approach to model the effective capacitance experienced by the oscillating signal over the oscillation period. The modeled effective capacitance is used in the calculation of the oscillation frequency, which agrees well with the simulation results. Two VCOs are designed and fabricated in TSMC 0.18 μm technology. The oscillation frequency is tunable from 759 to 910 MHz with a tuning range of 18%. At 900 MHz carrier, the measured phase noise is −126.1 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz frequency offset with 4.5 mW power consumption.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Rael, J., & Abidi, A. (2000). Physical processes of phase noise in differential LC oscillators. In Proceedings of custom integrated circuits conference (pp. 569–572), May 2000.

  2. Bonfanti, A., Levantino, S., Samori, C., & Lacaita, A. (2006). A varactor configuration minimizing the amplitude-to-phase noise conversion in VCOs. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, 53(3), 481–488.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hegazi, E., Sjöland, H., & Abidi, A. (2001). A filtering technique to lower LC oscillator phase noise. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 36(12), 1921–1930.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Chen, Y., Neubauer, V., Liu, Y., Vollenbruch, U., Wicpalek, C., Mayer, T., Neurauter, B., Maurer, L., & Boos, Z. (2001). A 9 GHz dual-mode digitally controlled oscillator for GSM/UMTS transceivers in 65 nm CMOS. In IEEE Asian solid-state circuits conference (pp. 432–435), Jeju, Korea, December 2001.

  5. Bunch, R., & Raman, S. (2003). Large-signal analysis of MOS varactors in CMOS-Gm LC VCOs. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 38(8), 1325–1332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Hegazi, E., & Abidi, A. (2003). Varactor characteristics, oscillator tuning curves, and AM–FM conversion. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 38(6), 1033–1039.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Levantino, S., Samori, C., Zanchi, A., & Lacaita, A. (2002). AM-to-PM conversion in varactor-tuned oscillators. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II, 49(7), 509–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Andreani, P., & Fard, A. (2006). More on the 1/f2 phase noise performance of CMOS differential-pair LC-tank oscillators. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 41(12), 2703–2712.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Darabi, H., & Abidi, A. (2000). Noise in RF-CMOS mixers: A simple physical model. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 35(1), 15–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Berny, A., Niknejad, A., & Meyer, R. (2005). A 1.8-GHz LC VCO with 1.3-GHz tuning range and digital amplitude calibration. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 40(4), 909–917.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Craninckx, J., & Steyaert, M. (1995). Low-noise voltage-controlled oscillators using enhanced LC-tanks. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II, 42(12), 794–804.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Muller, R., & Kamins, T. (1986). Device electronics for integrated circuits (1977, 2nd ed.). New York, NY: Wiley.

  13. Muer, B. D., Borremans, M., Steyaert, M., & Puma, G. (2000). A 2-GHz low-phase-noise integrated LC-VCO set with flicker-noise up-conversion minimization. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 35(7), 1034–1038.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Lacaita, A., Levantino, S., & Samori, C. (2007). Integrated frequency synthesizers for wireless systems. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  15. Kim, H., Cha, C., Oh, S., Yang, M., & Lee, S. (2004). A very low-power quadrature VCO with back-gate coupling. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 39(6), 952–955.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Andreani, P. (2002). A low-phase-noise low-phase-error 1.8 GHz quadrature CMOS VCO. In IEEE ISSCC Digest of Technical Papers, pp. 228–229, San Francisco, CA, 2002.

  17. Ismail, A., & Abidi, A. (2003). CMOS differential LC oscillator with suppressed up-converted flicker noise. In IEEE ISSCC Digest of Technical Papers, pp. 98–99, San Francisco, CA, 2003.

  18. Bhattacharjee, J., Mukherjee, D., Gebara, E., Nuttinck, S., & Laskar, J. (2002). A 5.8 GHz fully integrated low power low phase noise CMOS LC VCO for WLAN applications. In Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) symposium (pp. 475–478), Seattle, WA, 2002.

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the financial support from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada. We would also like to acknowledge the financial support from McGill Engineering Doctoral Award (MEDA) to Hu. We would like to thank Canada Microelectronics Corporation (CMC) for providing the CMOS fabrication services.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, 3480 University Street, Montreal, QC, H3A2A7, Canada

    An Hu & Vamsy P. Chodavarapu

Authors
  1. An Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Vamsy P. Chodavarapu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vamsy P. Chodavarapu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hu, A., Chodavarapu, V.P. A 900 MHz low power LC-VCO with improved phase noise performance. Analog Integr Circ Sig Process 71, 197–210 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-011-9715-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-011-9715-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation