Low noise oscillator design using upconversion gain analysis

Abstract

A new design technique is presented to minimize phase noise in microwave oscillators. The proposed method extends Two Signal Method (TSM) to estimate LF noise upconversion gain and resulting phase noise. Three oscillators that have different upconversion gains are designed using the same devices, bias point and topology. The measured phase noise characteristics of these oscillators show that the proposed method can be effectively used to design low phase noise oscillators by properly choosing the embedding network which minimize upconversion gain of an oscillator.