A 45GHz, 14mW Rotary Wave Voltage-Controlled Oscillator

A low-power, multiphase voltage-controlled oscillator for RF/microwave applications is presented. The oscillator circuit utilizes a combination of standing wave and traveling wave behavior to generate a low-phase noise output. The oscillator operates at 45GHz with a 5% tuning range and has a phase noise of -89.06dB/Hz at an offset frequency of 1MHz. This circuit is fabricated in a 0.12-μm SiGe BiCMOS process and uses only NMOS devices for the oscillator core. At a supply voltage of 1.2V, the power consumption of the oscillator core is 14mW.