Advances in Radio Science www.adv-radio-sci.net 1684-9965 1684-9973 7 Kleinheubacher Berichte 2008 2009 10.5194/ars-7-243-2009 http://www.adv-radio-sci.net/7/243/2009/ http://www.adv-radio-sci.net/7/243/2009/ars-7-243-2009.html http://www.adv-radio-sci.net/7/243/2009/ars-7-243-2009.pdf 243 247 2009-05-19 An X-Band low-power and low-phase-noise VCO using bondwire inductor K. Hu hu@ihp-microelectronics.com F. Herzel J. C. Scheytt IHP GmbH, Im Technologiepark 25, 15236 Frankfurt (Oder), Germany In this paper a low-power low-phase-noise voltage-controlled-oscillator (VCO) has been designed and, fabricated in 0.25 μm SiGe BiCMOS process. The resonator of the VCO is implemented with on-chip MIM capacitors and a single aluminum bondwire. A tail current filter is realized to suppress flicker noise up-conversion. The measured phase noise is −126.6 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from a 7.8 GHz carrier. The figure of merit (FOM) of the VCO is −192.5 dBc/Hz and the VCO core consumes 4 mA from a 3.3 V power supply. To the best of our knowledge, this is the best FOM and the lowest phase noise for bondwire VCOs in the X-band. This VCO will be used for satellite communications. Follmann, R., Köther, D., Kohl, T., Engels, M., Podrebersek, T., Heyer, V., Schmalz, K., Herzel, F., Winkler, W., Osmany, S., and Jagdhold, U.: A single SiGe chip fractional-N 275 MHz\ldots20 GHz PLL with integrated 20 GHz VCO, IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium, Atlanta, 355–358, June, 2008. Hegazi, E., Sjoland, H., and Abidi, A.: A Filtering Technique to Lower Oscillator Phase Noise, IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, 364–365, 2001. Jacobsson, H., Hansson, B., Berg, H., and Gevorgian, S.: Very Low Phase-Noise Fully-Integrated Coupled VCOs, Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium, 467–470, 2002. Bao, M., Li, Y., and Jacobsson, H.: A 21.5/43 GHz Dual-Frequency Balanced Colpitts VCO in SiGe Technology, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 1352–1355, 2004. Zirath, H., Jacobsson, H., Bao, M., Ferndahl, M., and Kozhuharov, R.: MMIC-Oscillator Designs for Ultra Low Phase Noise, IEEE Compound Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Symposium, 204–207, 2005. Ferndahl, M. and Zirath, H.: Broadband 7GHz VCO in mHEMT Technology, in: Proc. Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference, 4, December, 2005. Craninckx, J. and Steyaert, M.: A 1.8-GHz CMOS low-phase-noise voltage-controlled oscillator with prescaler, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 1474–1482, December, 1995. Kim, K., Ahn, K. H., and Lim, T. H.: Low Phase Noise Bond Wire VCO for DVB-H, 4th IEEE International Symposium on Electronic Design, Test and Applications, 103–106, 2008. Craninckx, J., Steyaert, M., and Miyakawa, H.: A Fully Integrated Spiral-LC CMOS VCO Set with Prescaler for GSM and DCS-1800 Systems, in: Proc. IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, 403–406, 1997. Tiebout, M.: Low Power VCO Design in CMOS, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 11 and 74, 2006. Rael, J. J. and Abidi, A. A.: Physical Process of Phase Noise in Differential LC Oscillators, in: Proc. Custom Integrated Circuit Conference, 569–572, May, 2000. Muer, B. D., Borremans, M., Steyaert, M., and Puma, G. L.: A 2-GHz Low-Phase Noise Integrated LC-VCO Set With Flicker-Noise Upconversion Mechanism, IEEE j. Solid-State Circuits, 1034–1038, July, 2000. Hegazi, E., Sjoland, H., and Abidi, A: A Filtering Technique to Lower Qscillator Phase Noise, ISSCC, Session 24, 23.4, 2001. Masini, L., Pozzoni, M., Caliumi, A., Tomasini, L., Morigi, D., and Lemaire, F.: A Fully Integrated Silicon-Germanium X-Band VCO, online available: http://amsacta.cib.unibo.it/archive/00000048/0 1/G_13_2.pdf, 2001. Heinemann, B., Barth, R., Bolze, D., Drews, J., and Formanek, P.: A complementary BiCMOS technology with high speed npn and pnp SiGe:C HBTs, IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, 5.2.1–5.2.4, 2003. Niu, G.: Noise in SiGe HBT RF Technology: Physics, Modeling, and Circuit Implementations, in: Proc. IEEE, 93, 1583–1597, 2005. Cressler, J. D.: SiGe HBT technology: a New Contender for Si based RF and Microwave Circuit Applications, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 46, 572–589, 1998.