Millimeter-Wave Voltage-Controlled Oscillators in 0.13-micrometer CMOS Technology

Millimeter-Wave Voltage-Controlled Oscillators in 0.13-micrometer CMOS Technology
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 9
Release: 2006
Genre:
ISBN:

This paper describes the design of CMOS millimeter-wave voltage controlled oscillators. Varactor, transistor, and inductor designs are optimized to reduce the parasitic capacitances. An investigation of tradeoff between quality factor and tuning range for MOS varactors at 24 GHz has shown that the polysilicon gate lengths between 0.18 and 0.24 micrometer result in both good quality factor (>12) and Cmax/Cmin ratio (~3) in the 0.13-micrometer CMOS process used for the study. The components were utilized to realize a VCO operating around 60 GHz with a tuning range of 5.8 GHz. A 99-GHz VCO with a tuning range of 2.5 GHz, phase noise of --102.7 dBc/Hz at 10-MHz offset and power consumption of 7-15 mW from a 1.5-V supply and a 105-GHz VCO are also demonstrated. This is the CMOS circuit with the highest fundamental operating frequency. The lumped element approach can be used even for VCOs operating near 100-GHz and it results in a smaller circuit area.

Application of Dual-Mode Wide-Band CMOS Oscillators

Application of Dual-Mode Wide-Band CMOS Oscillators
Author: Abdolhossein Ayoubi
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 78
Release: 2015-07-21
Genre:
ISBN: 9781515167266

Broadband voltage-controlled oscillators are critical to the design of millimeter wave frequency synthesizers. This book proposes a design technique that can be used to significantly extend the achievable frequency span of an oscillator. A dual-band oscillator topology is described that can be configured to operate in one of two modes, by an electrical reconfiguration of the negative resistance core around the resonant tank, without switching passive elements within the tank itself. The configuration helps to minimize the difference in phase noise performance between the two modes, while achieving a wide tuning range. This book includes five chapters and through these chapters the necessary information for designing millimeter wave frequency synthesizers are provided for the readers.

A Dual-Mode Wide-Band Cmos Oscillator

A Dual-Mode Wide-Band Cmos Oscillator
Author: Shatam Agarwal
Publisher: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing
Total Pages: 56
Release: 2012
Genre:
ISBN: 9783846553053

Broadband voltage-controlled oscillators are critical to the design of millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequency synthesizers. This thesis proposes a design technique that can be used to significantly extend the achievable frequency span of an oscillator. A dual-band oscillator topology is described that can be configured to operate in one of two modes, by an electrical reconfiguration of the negative resistance core around the resonant tank, without switching passive elements within the tank itself. The configuration helps to minimize the difference in phase noise performance between the two modes, while achieving a wide tuning range. To verify the concept, an mm-wave VCO that operates at 30 GHz is designed in a commercial 0.18-um CMOS technology, with an approximate simulated tuning range of 20%. A dual-mode oscillator is also designed in 0.13-um CMOS technology at 60 GHz.

A Dual-mode Wide-band CMOS Oscillator for Millimeter-wave Applications

A Dual-mode Wide-band CMOS Oscillator for Millimeter-wave Applications
Author: Shatam Agarwal
Publisher:
Total Pages: 78
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

Broadband voltage-controlled oscillators are critical to the design of millimeter wave frequency synthesizers. This thesis proposes a design technique that can be used to significantly extend the achievable frequency span of an oscillator. A dual-band oscillator topology is described that can be configured to operate in one of two modes, by an electrical reconfiguration of the negative resistance core around the resonant tank, without switching passive elements within the tank itself. The configuration helps to minimize the difference in phase noise performance between the two modes, while achieving a wide tuning range. To verify the concept, a mm-wave VCO that operates at 30-GHz is designed in a commercial 0.18-um CMOS technology, with an approximate simulated tuning range of 20%. A dual-mode oscillator is also designed in a 0.13-um technology at 60-GHz.

Reconfigurable Dual-mode Voltage-controlled Oscillator and Wideband Frequency Synthesizer for Millimeter-wave Applications

Reconfigurable Dual-mode Voltage-controlled Oscillator and Wideband Frequency Synthesizer for Millimeter-wave Applications
Author: Cheng-Hsien Hung
Publisher:
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

Demands for high data-rate communications and high-precision sensing applications have pushed wireless systems towards higher operating frequencies where wider bandwidth is available. Examples of such applications include 60 GHz indoor communications and vehicular RADAR around 77 GHz. High-speed frequency synthesizers integrated in a CMOS process, with wide operating bandwidth, and low phase noise are key to low-cost transceiver implementations for such applications. The requirement to operate over a wide span of carrier frequencies arises from two key sources. The system itself often requires a wide tuning range, in excess of 5-10% of the carrier frequency. Further, it is necessary to compensate for the uncertainty in operating frequencies, caused by process and temperature variations. This dissertation introduces a dual-mode voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) topology, embedded in a frequency synthesizer, for wideband operation. The VCO can operate in two oscillation modes by reconfiguring the active negative resistance core around the LC tank that is employed as the resonator element in the oscillator. A key aspect to the design is that the switches used for mode reconfiguration do not contribute to the tank loss. The frequency spacing of the two modes is determined by an accurate inductor ratio. It is demonstrated through analysis that in order to ensure mode-switching, the size of the switches needs be larger than a critical value, which is a function of the electrical properties of the cross-coupled, negative resistance core, as well as the resonator used in the design. The impact of noise injection and mismatch on switching behavior is also analyzed. The VCO topology has been implemented in a 65nm CMOS process. The design demonstrates measured tuning ranges of 56.9 GHz to 65.4 GHz, and 64.6 GHz to 75.3 GHz, in the two respective modes, for a total effective tuning range of 28%. The oscillator consumes 13 mW, with a 1 V-supply, and its Figure of Merit with tuning range (FOM[subscript T]) is -177.2 dB. An integer-N frequency synthesizer that employs the dual-mode VCO, has also been designed and verified in a 65 nm CMOS process. The synthesizer has a locking range from 56 GHz to 63.9 GHz in its low frequency mode. The total power consumption of the synthesizer, including output buffers, is approximately 50 mW. The in-band phase noise, at a locked frequency of 63.04 GHz, is -88.4 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset.

Millimeter-wave Harmonic Oscillator Design for Wide Tuning Range and High Power

Millimeter-wave Harmonic Oscillator Design for Wide Tuning Range and High Power
Author: Rouzbeh Kananizadeh
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2018
Genre:
ISBN: 9780438289406

A voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) with ultra wide tuning range is presented in the second chapter. This VCO incorporates a system of coupled oscillators with two Active Mode Switching (AMS) blocks. The AMS blocks excite the main VCO’s to operate in two distinct frequency bands. An overlap between the two frequency bands has extended the tuning range of the VCO. By turning the AMS blocks off, low-loss and low-capacitance behavior of these blocks result in wide tuning range and high harmonic output power at high millimeter-wave (mmwave) frequencies. On the other hand, by turning the AMS blocks on, their loss-cancelling and capacitance-tuning behavior yield to higher power and wider tuning range with a lower center frequency. By having sufficient frequency overlap between the two modes, the implementedV CO achieves record tuning range of 20.7% at 190.5 GHz with maximum output power of -2.1dBm. This tuning range is significantly higher than other reported silicon-based VCO’s with center frequencies higher than 120 GHz. The second chapter also includes a thorough study on Colpitts oscillators and their capability for wide tuning range. Third chapter studies nonlinear behavior of transistors to boost the output power of harmonic oscillators. Based on time-variant behavior of Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOS-FETs) in large-signal operations, harmonic translations and their mutual effects are analyzed. Large amplitudes at terminal voltages of these transistors, push them into different regions of operation. In this chapter, harmonic translations are derived as a result of such changes in operation region of transistors. Operation in triode region for a portion of oscillation cycle results in iterative harmonic translations between fundamental frequency and second harmonic. They boost each other constructively for significantly stronger oscillation, more second harmonic output power and enhanced dc-to-RF efficiency. Based on these analysis, a 215 GHz signal source, implemented in a TSMC 65 nm CMOS LP is presented. The proposed oscillator achieves maximum output power of 5.6 dBm and dc-to-RF efficiency of 4.6%. The measured phase noiseis -94.6 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset. The proposed oscillator occupies only 0.08 mm2 of chip area. Using the concept of harmonic translations in nonlinear circuits, the fourth chapter analyzes the fundamental limits for maximum second harmonic power generation for any given transistor. Moreover, optimum waveforms at gate-source and drain-source terminals which yield to this maximum limit in CMOS transistors are derived. Two oscillators are implemented in a TSMC 65nm CMOS GP process. Transistors in these oscillators have optimum voltage waveforms at their terminals. Thus, they deliver state-of-the-art second harmonic output power, while operating at relatively higher frequencies than related arts. One of the proposed oscillators has maximum output power of 4.9 dBm and peak dc-to-RF efficiency of 3% at 300 GHz. The implemented oscillators occupy 0.16 mm2 of chip area.

Design of Millimeter Wave High Efficiency Oscillator and High Gain Amplifier

Design of Millimeter Wave High Efficiency Oscillator and High Gain Amplifier
Author: Hao Wang
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2019
Genre:
ISBN: 9781658416467

The goal of dissertation is to explore feasibility of designing millimeter-wave (mmWave) circuits in CMOS technology, especially when frequency is close to the maximum oscillation frequency f[subscript max] of the active device. In this dissertation, an embedding network method is proposed to design high efficiency fundamental oscillators and high gain amplifier. First, it reports an approach to designing compact high efficiency mmWave fundamental oscillators operating above the f[subscript max]/2 of the active device. The approach takes full consideration of the nonlinearity of the active device and the finite quality factor of the passive devices to provide an accurate and optimal oscillator design in terms of the output power and efficiency. 213-GHz single-ended and differential fundamental oscillators in 65-nm CMOS technology are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Using a compact capacitive transformer design, the single-ended oscillator achieves 0.79-mW output power per transistor (16 [mu]m) at 1.0-V supply and a peak dc-to-RF efficiency of 8.02% (V[subscript DD]=0.80 V) within a core area of 0.0101 mm2, and the measured phase noise is −93.4 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset. The differential oscillator exhibits approximately the same performance. A 213-GHz fundamental voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with bulk tuning method is also developed in this work. The measured peak efficiency of the VCO is 6.02% with a tuning rang of 2.3% at 0.6-V supply.In order to further improve dc-to-RF efficiency, an optimization-based design methodology is then proposed for high-power and high-efficiency mmWave fundamental oscillators in CMOS technology. The optimization is formulated to take into account the loss of the passive components to result in an optimal circuit design. The proposed approach can produce the final design in a single pass of optimization with a fast and robust convergence profile. A comparative study between the T - and the [pi]-embedding networks is presented. It shows that T -embedding is superior to [pi]-embedding in terms of flexibility in biasing and sensitivity to component Q. A design example of a 215-GHz fundamental oscillator in a 65-nm CMOS technology is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design approach. The oscillator achieves 5.17-dBm peak output power at 1.2-V supply with a corresponding dc-to-RF efficiency 12.3% and a peak efficiency of 13.7%. The measured phase noise is −90.0 dBc/Hz and −116.2 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz and 10 MHz offset, respectively. Lastly, embedding network theory is presented to design high gain amplifier in this dissertation. Two embedding theories, constant GC/U and G[subscript max]/GC, are proposed. A 210-GHz high gain amplifier example is designed. Two 16 [mu]m NMOS transistors consist of a differential circuit with V[subscript DD] = 1.2 V and VG = 0.45 V. The total dc power of the designed 210-GHz amplifier is 12.8 mW. The simulated Gain S21 is 16.66 dB. NF is 7.38 dB. Stability factor k is 3.82 at 210 GHz. The simulated 1dB compression point P1dB, input referred third-order intercept point, IIP3 is -22.33 dB, and -12.97 dB, respectively. These simulated results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design theory.