An Ultra-Low Power Area Efficient Voltage Controlled Oscillator Based on Tunable Active Inductor for Wireless Applications.

Abstract

This paper presents a tunable active inductor based ultra-low power, low area voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) in 90 nm CMOS process. In the designed VCO, the modified topology of the active inductor is employed along with tuning capability. The layoutbased simulation has been performed deeming parasitic resistances and capacitances. The designed VCO yields an oscillation frequency ranging from 1.38 GHz to 3.16 GHz with a tuning range of 78.41%, where the tuning voltage is driven from 0.4 V to −0.2 V. The power dissipation varies from 0.062 mW to 0.177 mW, and the VCO provides a differential output power of 8.34 dBm to 3.94 dBm. The phase noise varies from −71 dBc/Hz to −65.4 dBc/Hz, and the Figure of Merit (FoM) has a value of −143.09 dBc/Hz @ 2.79 GHz frequency. The process corner analysis, temperature swept analysis, and Monte Carlo analysis of the proposed VCO had been carried out for the evaluation of its compatibility for diversified environments. Furthermore, the exclusion of the MOS varactor has condensed total silicon area consumption (10.3 μm × 8.5 μm). Finally, the designed VCO's performance parameters have been compared with mentioned designs where it is demonstrated that the designed VCO outdoes the others in most cases along with outstanding outcomes of low power and low silicon area consumption.