A Wideband Low Phase-Noise LC-VCO With Programmable $K_{\rm VCO}$

Abstract

<para xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> A programmable voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) gain scheme is introduced to equalize the analog tuning range across the frequency range of a wideband VCO. The programmable VCO gain gives a possibility to trade VCO gain for phase noise performance. The test chip fabricated on a standard 130-nm CMOS technology achieves a measured phase noise of <formula formulatype="inline"><tex>$-$</tex> </formula>126.8 dBc/Hz and <formula formulatype="inline"> <tex>$-$</tex></formula>126.0 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset from 3.6-GHz and 4.0-GHz carriers, respectively. The VCO consumes less than 6 mA from a 1.8-V power supply. </para>