A 42 GHz low phase noise Colpitts VCO in 180-nm SiGe BiCMOS

Abstract

This paper describes a 39.1 to 42.5 GHz low phase noise Colpitts voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) using 180-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology. In order to achieve better phase noise, an optimization method related to capacitance ratio is analyzed. Meanwhile, the linearization method is used to achieve a linearized KVCO which is robust to varactor bias variations. The simulated VCO features a tuning range of 8%, low phase noise of –95.3 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset, voltage supply of 3.3 V and power consumption of 40 mW, which results in a FOM T of –170 dBc/Hz.