Radio-Frequency Performance Degradation in CMOS Divide-by-3 Injection-Locked Frequency Divider Due to Hot Carrier Effects

摘要

This contribution experimentally investigates the hot carrier effects on the RF characteristics of a wide-locking range divide-by-3 injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD). The ILFD was implemented in the TSMC 0.18 μm CMOS process. High supply voltage stresses were applied at room temperature on the ILFD. The main observed degradation is a decrease of locking range. It was also found that the phase noises in both the free-running and locked state increase with stress time and ILFD-core current and power consumptions decrease with stress time.