A LOW POWER X-BAND CMOS DIFFERENTIAL VCO

摘要

This article proposes a 12 GHz low power differential voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) based on single-ended Colpitts oscillators. The differential VCO uses two single-ended Colpitts VCOs coupled by a pair of pMOS cross-coupled transistors and a transformer inductor. The differential VCO was fabricated in the TSMC 0.18-μm CMOS process, it oscillates from 11.46 GHz to 12.45 GHz, and the power consumption is 2.76 mW at the supply voltage of 1.2 V. The measured phase noise at 1-MHz offset is -110.95 dBc/Hz at the oscillation frequency of 12.42 GHz. The power consumption of the VCO is 2.3 mA when the supplied voltage is 1.2 V. The figure of merit of the VCO is -188.43 dBc/Hz.