High-Performance Low-Cost Dual 15 GHz/30 GHz CMOS LC Voltage-Controlled Oscillator

Abstract

A CMOS LC voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) capable of covering both the Ku and Ka bands is presented. The Ku-band frequency source is generated from a low-noise cross-coupled LC VCO. A PMOS push-push frequency doubler, together with the inductor of the low-band LC VCO, is adopted to boost the low Ku-band toward high Ka-band. This proposed VCO is implemented in a standard 0.18 $\mu\text{m}$ CMOS with 1.35 V supply voltage. The dual-band VCO consumes a small active area of 0.49 mm $\times$ 0.2 mm and low DC power of 3 mW at both bands. At 1 MHz (10 MHz) offset, the measured output phase noises are −109.30 dBc/Hz (−130.54 dBc/Hz) at 15.126 GHz and −102.33 dBc/Hz (−124.10 dBc/Hz) at 30.251 GHz.