A Wideband Mode-Switching Quad-Core VCO Using Compact Multi-Mode Magnetically Coupled <i>LC</i> Network
Chao Li, Jinhua Guo, Pei Qin, Quan Xue
Abstract
This article proposes a quad-core millimeter-wave (mm-wave) voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) using a compact multi-mode magnetically coupled <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">LC</i> network. The network can be configured to achieve four different resonant modes. In conjunction with the mode switches, four VCO cores are coupled with each other to achieve the quad-mode switching; thus, the tuning range (TR) is widened. In addition, the mismatch and phase noise (PN) of the asymmetrical multi-core oscillator have been analyzed. Implemented in 65-nm CMOS process, the VCO achieves a measured continuous TR of 90.2%, from 12.1 to 32.0 GHz. The measured best PN is −103.2 dBc/Hz at 13.2 GHz with 1-MHz offset, corresponding to a figure-of-merit (FoM) of −177.6 dBc/Hz and an FOM of TR and area (FoM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">TA</sub> ) of −207.7 dBc/Hz. This chip operates at a 0.8-V supply with a power consumption of 5.6–22.5 mW and a core area of 0.08 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> .