A 56GHz LC-tank VCO with 17% tuning range in 65nm bulk CMOS for wireless HDMI applications

Abstract

A voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) with 56 GHz central frequency and 17% tuning range is presented. The oscillation frequency is tuned both by an analog input and a three-bit digital control bus using the same type of differential varactors. It achieves a record FOM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> (considering tuning range) of 186.8 dBc/Hz and it is able to address the full wireless HDMI band. The VCO is implemented in a 65 nm bulk CMOS process and dissipates 15 mW from a 1.2 V supply.