A Widely Tunable K-band Voltage-Controlled Oscillator

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23075/jicas.2022.8.2.004
Keywords: Capacitor bank, Local oscillator, Phase noise, Voltage-controlled oscillator

Abstract

A wideband LC voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) using a 3-bit switched-capacitor bank has been proposed for improving the frequency bandwidth in K-band applications. The capacitor bank is composed of metal-oxide-metal (MOM) capacitors to obtain a high-quality factor of the LC tank. The size of the unit capacitor in the capacitor bank is optimized to achieve a wide tuning range. The fabricated chip area is 400 µm × 610 µm by using the TSMC 65-nm RF CMOS process. The overall tuning range of the proposed VCO is from 18.82 to 23.28 GHz in measurement, and it consumes 46.4 mW, including a buffer stage at a 1 V supply voltage. The measured phase noise is −105.8 dBc/Hz at a 1-MHz offset frequency. A figure-of-merit (FOM) and FOM incorporating the tuning range (FOMT) is −179 dBc/Hz and −185.2 dBc/Hz at a 1-MHz offset from the center frequency, respectively.

Author Biographies

Hyeon Jin Son, Department of Electronic Engineering, Yeungnam University

Hyeon-Jin Son received a B.S degree in electronic engineering from Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, Korea, in 2022. He is currently pursuing an M.S. degree in electronic engineering. His research interests include Millimeter-wave/terahertz circuits Transmitter IC.

Dong Jun Shin, Department of Electronic Engineering, Yeungnam University

Dong-Jun Shin received a B.S degree in electronic engineering from Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, Korea, in 2021. He is currently pursuing an M.S. degree in electronic engineering. His research interests include Millimeter-wave/terahertz circuits Transmitter IC.

Ui Gyu Choi, Department of Electronic Engineering, Yeungnam University

Ui-Gyu Choi received a B.S. and M.S. degree in electronic engineering from Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, Korea, in 2018 and 2020, respectively, where he is currently pursuing the Ph. D. degree in electronic engineering. His research interests include Millimeter-wave/terahertz circuits Transmitter IC.

Jong Ryul Yang, Department of Electronic Engineering, Yeungnam University

Jong-Ryul Yang received his B.S degrees in electrical engineering and material science from Ajou University, Suwon, South Korea, in 2003, and his Ph. D. degree in electrical engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea, in 2009.

From Feb. 2009 to Oct. 2011, he worked as a Senior Engineer in the System LSI Division, Samsung Electronics, Yongin, South Korea. From Nov. 2011 to Aug. 2016, he was a Senior Researcher in the Advanced Medical Device Research Division, Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, Ansan, South Korea. Since Sep. 2016, he has been an Associate Professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, South Korea.

His research interests include analog/RF/millimeter-wave/terahertz circuits and systems, specifically for CMOS detector ICs, high-power millimeter-wave transmitters, sub-terahertz imaging systems, and miniaturized radar sensors.

Homepage : https://net10226.wixsite.com/misl

Published
2022-04-01
How to Cite
Son, H. J., Shin, D. J., Choi, U. G., & Yang, J. R. (2022). A Widely Tunable K-band Voltage-Controlled Oscillator. Journal of Integrated Circuits and Systems, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.23075/jicas.2022.8.2.004
Issue
Vol 8 No 2 (2022)
Section
Articles