A 700-MHz VCO using high-Q silicon on insulator (SOI) inductors

Abstract

This paper presents a 700-MHz low power, low phase noise LC voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) using high-Q silicon on insulator (SOI) inductors in a 0.35-/spl mu/m SOI CMOS process. This VCO has been designed for use in a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit of a UHF receiver chain. Thanks to high-Q SOI inductors, very low phase noise is achieved with low power dissipation. The measured phase noise of the VCO is -121 dBc/Hz at 600 KHz offset with 2.4 mA current from a 2.5-V supply. The VCO has a 33% overall tuning range.