Enhancing performance of a InGaP/GaAs VCO by means of a switching architecture

Abstract

The introduction of a compact switching architecture in the design of a monolithic microwave integrated voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is described, that is able to provide enhanced characteristics in term of both linearity and tunability. The proposed solution is applied to the design of a C-band GaAs MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) VCO. The chip has been realised with the heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) HB20M technology process provided by UMS Foundry. Measurements show a relative tuning range of about 30%, an average sensitivity of about 83 MHz/V, a minimum output power of 11.4 dBm and a phase noise at 100 kHz of frequency offset from the carrier lower of −107 dBc/Hz.

Low power quadrature voltage controlled oscillator

“…Table summarizes the recently reported QVCOs along with this work. Compared with the simulated results in References and the measured results in References , the proposed QVCO in this work has the advantages of lower supply voltage, lower power consumption and wider tuning range. However, the reported works in References are much more suitable for higher frequency wireless communication systems.…”

Low phase‐noise high output power 176‐GHz voltage‐controlled oscillator in a 130‐nm BiCMOS technology

“…However, the main disadvantages of this architecture are that the achievable maximum power is de facto determined by the technology and that the so-defined VCO characteristics are a tradeoff between tunability, PN and output power since they are strictly correlated [7,8]. The alternative strategy consists instead in the design of an active oscillation core and an output buffer, a typical approach of CMOS circuits considering the limited power handling of this technology, while it is not common for bipolar technology.…”

“…In this paper, a differential fundamental frequency VCO operating at the central frequency of 176 GHz is proposed. The chosen architecture, combined with the use of a common-emitterbased Colpitts topology, offers different benefits, such as high output power, low PN, good linearity and compact dimensions [7,8]. The chip is realised with the SG13G2 process provided by IHP; it is a SiGe BiCMOS technology with f t and f max of 300 and 500 GHz, respectively.…”