Ring VCO Design with Variable Capacitance XNOR Delay Cell

Abstract

This paper presents the new designs of voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) with three transistors XNOR gate as variable capacitive load. Design of three, five and seven stage VCO have been reported using single ended ring topology. CMOS inverter based delay cell is modified with addition of XNOR capacitive load. Output frequency has been controlled by applied voltage to variable capacitive load. Control voltage of VCO has been varied from 1.3 to 2.1 V. Three stage VCO provides output frequency variation in the range of 3.52–3.34 GHz with power consumption variation from 0.81 to 1.76 mW. Five stage VCO shows frequency variation from 2.06 to 1.98 GHz with power consumption varying from 1.35 to 2.94 mW. Moreover, frequency of seven stage VCO varies from 1.47 to 1.41 GHz with varying power from 1.89 to 4.12 mW. Power consumption and output frequency of proposed VCO circuits have been compared with earlier reported circuits and present approach shows considerable improvements.