A wide tuning range and low phase noise 20 GHz 0.18 μm CMOS voltage controlled oscillator

Abstract A low phase noise, wide tuning range, small power dissipation and small sized 20 GHz with cascode configuration for the cross-coupled pair and capacitive feedback voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) using 0.18 μm CMOS technology is described. The VCO can be tuned between 19.1 GHz and 20.9 GHz and has low phase noise of −108 dBc/Hz at a 1 MHz offset. The output power at 20.7 GHz is about −21.5 dBm. The figure of merit (FOM) is −184 dBc/Hz and the power-frequency tuning-normalized figure-of-merit (PFTN) is −11 dB. The power consumption of the VCO was 10.8 mW from a 1.8 V power supply with 0.46 mm 2 chip area.