A K-Band CMOS Standing Wave Oscillator Using Digital-Controlled Artificial Dielectric Differential Transmission Lines

Abstract

This letter presents a K-band standing wave oscillator (SWO) based on digital-controlled artificial dielectric differential transmission lines (DiCAD-DTLs). By combining the unique property of constant phase and digitally controlled wide tuning range, the proposed design achieves a better balance between phase noise and tuning range. A compact layout and high operating frequency are, hence, possible, since DiCAD-DTLs in this design behave like a resonator instead of a capacitor bank. This chip was fabricated in a standard 0.13- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> CMOS process with an area of 0.035 mm2. It achieves a tuning range from 19.2 to 21.6 GHz. The measured phase noise is around −104.7 dBc/Hz at a 1-MHz offset. This oscillator including buffer consumes 5 mA from a 1.5-V supply, demonstrating a figure of merit (FOM) and FOM <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm {_{T}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of −181.8 and −183.3 dBc/Hz, respectively.