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An 8.5 GHz, 0.4 V, 300 ΜW armstrong VCO with dual transformer feedback and capacitor‐splitting gate inductive feedback
Author(s) -
Gul Muhammad Talha,
Ngo Duc Viet,
Nguyen Xuan Tien,
Lee JongWook,
Park HunKuk
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
microwave and optical technology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.304
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1098-2760
pISSN - 0895-2477
DOI - 10.1002/mop.30304
Subject(s) - voltage controlled oscillator , transconductance , electrical engineering , phase noise , capacitor , dbc , cmos , transformer , electronic engineering , voltage , engineering , transistor
ABSTRACT We present a low‐voltage Armstrong voltage‐controlled oscillator (VCO) suitable for an efficient low‐power wireless connectivity solution. The VCO employing dual transformer feedback in the Armstrong structure is further augmented with low‐power design techniques: the use of a cross‐coupled differential pair, dual transconductance boosting, and capacitor‐splitting gate inductive feedback. The dual transformer feedback and dual transconductance boosting effectively increase the output swing. In addition, the cross‐coupled differential pair is combined with capacitor‐splitting gate inductive feedback, which further reduces the transconductance for startup. The proposed VCO has been fabricated in a 0.18 μm CMOS process; the fabricated device showed successful oscillation at 8.5 GHz while consuming 300 μW at 0.4 V, and its measured phase noise was −104.3 dBc/Hz at a 1‐MHz frequency offset. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:384–388, 2017