A 2.2-mW Backgate Coupled LC Quadrature VCO With Current Reused Structure

• Published in: IEEE microwave and wireless components letters Vol. 17; no. 4; pp. 298 - 300
• Main Authors: HONG, Jong-Phil, YUN, Seok-Ju, OH, Nam-Jin, LEE, Sang-Gug
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.04.2007; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Circuit properties; CMOS; CMOS technology; Coupling circuits; Degradation; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Dissipation; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronic circuits; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Flip-flops; Integrated circuits; low power; Microwaves; Noise; Offsets; Oscillators, resonators, synthetizers; Phase noise; Power dissipation; quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO); Quadratures; Radio frequency; radio frequency (RF); Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Signal generators; Transconductance; Voltage controlled oscillators; Phase noise; CMOS; Radio wave; Sine wave oscillator; Voltage controlled oscillator; Complementary MOS technology; radio frequency (RF); low power; Quadrature modulation; Low-power electronics; Radiofrequency; quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO)
• ISSN: 1531-1309; 1558-1764
• DOI: 10.1109/LMWC.2007.892988

This letter presents a backgate coupled quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO) which consists of a pair of current reused LC-VCOs. The proposed QVCO is designed for 2-GHz operation based on a 0.18-mum triple-well CMOS technology. Measurements show -102 and -124dBc/Hz at 100-kHz and 1-MHz offset, respectively. Compared to the conventional QVCO, the proposed QVCO dissipates significantly lower power (1.74mA from a 1.25-V supply) while showing good 1/f 3 close-in phase noise