Low-Voltage Dual-Band CMOS Voltage-Controlled Oscillator for Ka-Band and V-Band Applications

A low-voltage dual-band CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is fabricated in a 90-nm CMOS process. The performance of the proposed VCO is improved by winding a multi-function inductor with transformer feedback and parasitic capacitance-splitting techniques. The proposed VCO adopts a push-push node to obtain a second-harmonic signal strengthened by using the injection amplifier and the band-pass filter. The measured tuning ranges of the fundamental signal and second-harmonic signal are from 27.5 to 30.04 GHz and from 55 to 60.08 GHz, respectively. The measured phase noise of the fundamental signal of 28.26 GHz is -95.62 dBc/Hz and -111.5 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz and 10-MHz offsets, respectively. The measured phase noise of the second-harmonic signal of 56.52 GHz is -87.83 dBc/Hz and -107.9 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz and 10-MHz offsets, respectively. The core power dissipation is 7.08 mW from a 0.6-V supply. The figure-of-merits (FOMs) and FOMs with tuning range (FOMTs) at 1-MHz and 10-MHz offsets are -176.1 dBc/Hz, -172 dBc/Hz, -175 dBc/Hz, and -170.9 dBc/Hz, respectively, from the fundamental signal of 28.26 GHz. The FOMs and FOMTs at 1-MHz and 10-MHz offsets are -174.3 dBc/Hz, -174.4 dBc/Hz, -173.2 dBc/Hz, and -173.3 dBc/Hz, respectively, from the second-harmonic signal of 56.52 GHz.