Low‐phase‐noise wideband VCO with optimised sub‐nH inductor

Abstract

A wideband voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) covering 2.24–4.95 GHz for multi-standard wireless applications is presented. Realised in TSMC 180 nm RFCMOS process, the VCO provides a phase noise <–124.2 dBc/Hz at a 1 MHz offset in the whole frequency range, while drawing 10 and 18 mA at 4.95and 2.24 GHz from a 1.8 V supply, respectively. The achieved tuning range is 75% and the core chip area is 0.51 mm².