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Two wide-tuning-range mm-wave VCOs with SCTL and SCCPW in 45 nm SOI CMOS for 5G applications

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Abstract

A switched coupled transmission line (SCTL) method with high Q and flexible structure is proposed for mm-wave VCO to improve tuning range (TR), meanwhile maintaining low phase noise, low power dissipation and zero additional area. This TR extension method is also proved effective in a switched coupled coplanar waveguide (SCCPW) VCO. Fabricated in 45 nm SOI CMOS, the SCTL-VCO achieves 38.74% TR from 39.46 to 58.42 GHz, increased by 29.2% compared to the reference TL-VCO. The SCCPW-VCO achieves 38.83% TR from 38.69 to 57.33 GHz, increased by 31.9% compared to the reference CPW-VCO. The measured phase noise of SCTL-VCO and SCCPW-VCO over the entire frequency tuning range is from \(-\) 106 to \(-\) 116.8 and \(-\) 106.1 to \(-\) 116 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz offset, while the corresponding FOM\(_T\) is from \(-\) 181.7 to \(-\) 192.5 and \(-\) 181.6 to \(-\) 191.5 dBc/Hz, respectively. Each VCO dissipates 8.6–10.8 mW from 0.7 V power supply.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank GlobalFoundries Chinese university program for chip fabrication support and Rohde&Schwarz Openlab (Shanghai) for measurement help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Microelectronic Circuits and Systems, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

    Hui Yang, Tianye He, Rumeng Wang, Runxi Zhang & Chunqi Shi

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  1. Hui Yang
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  2. Tianye He
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  3. Rumeng Wang
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  4. Runxi Zhang
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Correspondence to Runxi Zhang.

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Yang, H., He, T., Wang, R. et al. Two wide-tuning-range mm-wave VCOs with SCTL and SCCPW in 45 nm SOI CMOS for 5G applications. Analog Integr Circ Sig Process 102, 457–463 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-019-01574-z

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