High Even-Modulus Injection-Locked Frequency Dividers

Abstract

This article designs and analyzes wide locking range (LR) high even-modulus LC -tank injection-locked frequency dividers (ILFDs) with current-reused topologies. The current-reused LC ILFD uses two stacked LC sub-ILFDs sharing the same dc current. The current-reused ILFD becomes a divide-by-4 ( $\div 4$ ) ILFD, when both sub-ILFDs are used $\div 2$ ILFDs, and it is used as a divide-by-8 ( $\div 8$ ) ILFD when one sub-ILFD is used a $\div 4$ ILFD. Both sub-ILFDs use nMOSFETs as linear injection mixers for high conversion gain. For the $\div 8$ LC ILFD designed in the TSMC 0.18- $\mu \text{m}$ CMOS process, the circuit uses one high-frequency $\div 4$ sub-ILFD and one low-frequency $\div 2$ sub-ILFD, at the supply of 1.6 V, and at the incident power of 0 dBm, the LR is 4 GHz (38.835%), from the incident frequency 8.3 to 12.3 GHz. The $\div 8$ ILFD core power consumption is 13.98 mW, and the die size is $1.2 \times 1.2$ mm2. Both the $\div 8$ LC ILFD and the $\div 4$ sub-ILFD have nonoverlapped and overlapped LRs, which are due to a dual-resonance resonator used in the varactor-free n-core sub-ILFD. The LC dual-resonance resonator is due to parasitic capacitors in active FETs and on-chip spiral inductors and inductive elements, and it is used to get wide overlapped LR. Two $\div 4$ LC ILFDs inherent in the designed circuit are also studied.