TY - GEN
T1 - A 52% tuning range QVCO with a reduced noise coupling scheme and a minimum FOMT of 196dBc/Hz
AU - Elbadry, Mohammad
AU - Kalia, Sachin
AU - Harjani, Ramesh
PY - 2014/11/4
Y1 - 2014/11/4
N2 - A wide-tuning range QVCO with a novel complimentary-coupling scheme is presented. Two NMOS-only VCOs are coupled via complimentary PMOS injection transistors. This shifts the injection current away from the zero-crossings of the output voltage, thereby reducing the sensitivity of the VCO to injection noise, which results in significant phase-noise improvement. Phase-shift is achieved without frequency-dependent phase-shifting networks, allowing robust coupling over a wide tuning range. As a proof-of-concept, a prototype is designed in TSMC 65nm process with 4-bits of discrete tuning spanning the frequency range 4.6-7.8 GHz (52% tuning range). The prototype operates from 0.5V supply, with a power consumption ranging from 7.4mW-11mW, while achieving a minimum figure-of-merit (FOM) of 181.6dBc/Hz, and a minimum figure-of-merit with tuning-range (FOMT) of 196dBc/Hz.
AB - A wide-tuning range QVCO with a novel complimentary-coupling scheme is presented. Two NMOS-only VCOs are coupled via complimentary PMOS injection transistors. This shifts the injection current away from the zero-crossings of the output voltage, thereby reducing the sensitivity of the VCO to injection noise, which results in significant phase-noise improvement. Phase-shift is achieved without frequency-dependent phase-shifting networks, allowing robust coupling over a wide tuning range. As a proof-of-concept, a prototype is designed in TSMC 65nm process with 4-bits of discrete tuning spanning the frequency range 4.6-7.8 GHz (52% tuning range). The prototype operates from 0.5V supply, with a power consumption ranging from 7.4mW-11mW, while achieving a minimum figure-of-merit (FOM) of 181.6dBc/Hz, and a minimum figure-of-merit with tuning-range (FOMT) of 196dBc/Hz.
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U2 - 10.1109/CICC.2014.6946060
DO - 10.1109/CICC.2014.6946060
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84928139422
T3 - Proceedings of the IEEE 2014 Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, CICC 2014
BT - Proceedings of the IEEE 2014 Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, CICC 2014
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 36th Annual Custom Integrated Circuits Conference - The Showcase for Integrated Circuit Design in the Heart of Silicon Valley, CICC 2014
Y2 - 15 September 2014 through 17 September 2014
ER -