44 GHz fully integrated and differential monolithic VCOs with wide tuning range in AlInAs/InGaAs/InP DHBT

Abstract

A fully integrated and differential AlInAs/InGaAs/InP DHBT voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) with wide tuning range and integrated divide-by-2 static divider was demonstrated for 44 GHz wireless and optical communication applications. To our knowledge, these 44 GHz ICs are the highest frequency fundamental mode fully integrated and differential VCOs with wide tuning range ever reported. The 44 GHz fundamental VCO delivers a typical differential output power of +4 dBm at a center frequency of 44 GHz with a tuning range of up to 4.5 GHz. The measured phase noise shows better than -100 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset and better than -80 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset. We have achieved more than 6 dB improvement in phase noise performance over the differential SHBT VCO results that we reported last year (A. Kurdoghlian et al., IEEE GaAs IC Symp. Dig., pp. 129-132, 2001).