Ischia, 21-23 giugno 2006Riunione Annuale GE 2006

Università di CataniaFacoltà di IngegneriaDIEESCatania - ITALY

STMicroelectronicsCatania site

Low-Phase-Noise 18-GHz Low-Phase-Noise 18-GHz Voltage-Controlled Voltage-Controlled

OscillatorOscillatorAngelo Scuderi and Giuseppe Palmisano

Radio Frequency Advanced Design Center (RF-ADC)

Elettronica delle microonde e delle onde millimetriche – A1

Ischia, 21-23 giugno 2006Riunione Annuale GE 2006

OutlineOutline

VCO for 17-GHz receiver

Transformer-based topology

High-Q resonator

Circuit design

Experimental results

Ischia, 21-23 giugno 2006Riunione Annuale GE 2006

VCO for 17-GHz receiverVCO for 17-GHz receiver

HIPERLINK standard exploits the 17-GHz ISM band and will provide a link between local 5-GHz WLANs and metropolitan networks.

A multi-band receiver at 5 and 17 GHz allows high-level of integration but requires a local oscillator with wide tuning capabilities and low-noise performance.

Ischia, 21-23 giugno 2006Riunione Annuale GE 2006

Transformer-based topologyTransformer-based topology

Thanks to a transformer the resonator exploits an inductive

coupling, consequently, both biasing resistors (RVV and RBB) and

coupling capacitors (CVV and CBB) are removed improving phase

noise and tuning range, respectively.

Ischia, 21-23 giugno 2006Riunione Annuale GE 2006

High-Q resonatorHigh-Q resonatorAn issue of great concern is the fabrication of high-Q resonator in a low-cost bipolar technology (17 mask steps) supplied by STMicroelectronics.

Ischia, 21-23 giugno 2006Riunione Annuale GE 2006

Circuit design Circuit design The VCO is composed of a transformer-based core oscillating at 9 GHz followed by a frequency doubler to obtain a working frequency of 18 GHz. The frequency doubler is composed by a full-wave rectifier and a comparator, whose frequency response was increased by using a zero-peaking technique.

Ischia, 21-23 giugno 2006Riunione Annuale GE 2006

Experimental results Experimental results

16

17

18

19

20

21

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

Control voltage [V]

Fre

quen

cy [

GH

z]

The VCO exhibits a tuning range of 4.1 GHz from 16.4 to 20.5 GHz, when the control voltage

VTUNE sweeps from 0 to 3 V.

The measured phase noise is -109 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset from a carrier of 18.5 GHz.

Ischia, 21-23 giugno 2006Riunione Annuale GE 2006

See you later …See you later …

Poster A1 Poster A1