Dual-band CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator with comparable outpower at both bands

Abstract

A low phase noise dual-band voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is proposed to achieve large voltage swings at both high-frequency and low-frequency bands. The VCO consists of a dual-resonance LC resonator and a cross-coupled switching transistor pair. The dual-resonance LC resonator comprises a parallel-tuned LC resonator and a series-resonant resonator. The proposed VCO has been implemented with the TSMC 0.18-μm 1P6M CMOS technology and the core power consumption is 1.99 mW at the DC drain-source bias of 0.51 V. The VCO can generate differential signals in the frequency range of 8.19–8.77 GHz and 3.38–3.84 and it also has comparable high output voltage swings at both low- and high-frequency bands. The die area of the dual-band VCO is 0.47 × 0.748 mm2. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 54:2349–2352, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.27097