A 12-GHz Fully Integrated Cascode CMOS $LC$ VCO With $Q$-Enhancement Circuit

Abstract

A fully integrated complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) cascode LC voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) with Q-enhancement technique has been designed for high frequency and low phase noise. The symmetrical cascode architecture is implemented with negative conductance circuit for improving phase noise performance in 0.18 mum CMOS technology. The measured phase noise is -110.8 dBc/Hz at the offset frequency of 1 MHz. The tuning range of 630 MHz is achieved with the control voltage from 0.6 to 1.4 V. The VCO draws 4.5 mA in a differential core circuit from 1.8 V supply.