A 22-to-36.8 GHz low phase noise Colpitts VCO array in 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS technology

Abstract

This paper describes a 22-to-36.8 GHz low phase noise Colpitts voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) array using 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The VCO array consists of four Colpitts VCO cores and three millimeter-wave (MMW) selectors. In the VCO core, in order to achieve the best phase noise and power consumption trade-off, an optimization method based on symbolic expressions is presented. In a further research, a switchable bias current technique is proposed to achieve lower phase noise. The MMW selectors are designed to select the desired VCO core and cover the whole frequency band with sufficient output power. The fabricated VCO array features a wide tuning range of 50.3%, low phase noise between −100.7 dBc/Hz and −95.3 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset and high output power of 4.5 dBm, which results in the FOMT between −183.2 dBc/Hz and −177.8 dBc/Hz.