A 10 GHz frequency-drift temperature compensated LC VCO with fast-settling low-noise voltage regulator in 0.13 µm CMOS

Abstract

This paper presents an LC voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) with an integrated compensation circuit that reduces oscillation frequency drift due to temperature variations. The temperature compensation circuit consists of MOS inversion varactor as a compensation capacitor, and BJTs and resistors for temperature dependent voltage bias generation, and noise contribution suppression of a bias noise. The effectiveness of this technique is demonstrated in a 10 GHz LC VCO with a frequency divider (divide-by-2), output measurement buffer, and integrated fast-settling low-noise voltage regulator. The VCO achieves current consumption of 21.0 mA, tuning range of 10.68 GHz to 12.40 GHz, phase noise of - 109.9 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from 6.12 GHz carrier. The VCO frequency-drift due to temperature is improved by 82 % with the compensation circuit.