A V-band Voltage Controlled Oscillator with greater than 18GHz of continuous tuning-range based on orthogonal E mode and H mode control

Abstract

A technique to achieve an extended continuous tuning range for Voltage Controlled Oscillators (VCO) is presented. The technique is scalable and the theory could be applied to achieve wide tuning range VCOs operating at arbitrary center frequency; however, it is more desirable at mm-wave regime (V-Band in this case) as it alleviates the need for switches and big varactor banks. The technique incorporated here relies on separate E and H mode excitation of the resonator, while avoiding the Q-degrading switches. The standing-wave V-band VCO reported here is implemented in 65-nm CMOS technology and achieves a continuous tuning range from 58 GHz to 76.2 GHz, with an average phase noise of -89.5 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset across the entire band, consumes an average of 5.8 mW (excluding the output buffers), and thus achieves a record FoM.