A 26GHz wideband and low phase noise pHEMT-based VCO

Abstract

A 26 GHz wideband and low phase noise monolithic voltage-controlled-oscillator (VCO) has been designed and fabricated in GaAs 0.15 µm pHEMT process. This balanced VCO utilizes cross-coupled configuration and differential output signals which are taken from the source terminals. Capacitance splitting-impedance balancing technique was considered in this design. At 25.8 GHz, the VCO achieves low phase noise of − 110 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset and −143 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz offset, respectively. It could be tuned from 25.15 GHz to 26.10 GHz and its output power is about −0.5 dBm. The dc power consumption is about 58 mW for a 3 V supply.