一种核心尺寸可缩放的低相位噪声LC VCO设计

Design of a Core-size-scalable Low Phase Noise LC VCO

基于TSMC 0.13μm互补金属氧化物半导体(CMOS)工艺,设计了一种用于多标准移动收发机的核心尺寸可缩放LC压控振荡器(VCO)。理论分析表明,当核心电流较小时,较大尺寸的VCO具有较低的相位噪声,而当核心电流较大时,较小尺寸的VCO具有较低的相位噪声,因此,该文将VCO的核心尺寸设置成可随电流变化的缩放尺寸。最终芯片测试结果表明,在核心电流为4.2mA,振荡频率5GHz的情况下,VCO的相位噪声为-121.6dBc/Hz@1 MHz;在核心电流为16 mA,振荡频率5GHz的情况下,VCO的相位噪声为-128.5dBc/Hz@1 MHz。

A core-size-scalable LC voltage-controlled oscillator（VCO） for multi-standard cellular transceivers was designed in TSMC 0.13 μm CMOS process. Theoretical analysis showed that when core current was small, a VCO with a larger core-size could achieve lower phase noise. However, when core current was large, a VCO with a smal- ler core-size could lower phase noise. Based on the analysis, the effective core-size of the VCO was designed to be scalable according to the core current. Measured results showed that, when the core current was set to 4.2 mA, the VCO achieved the phase noise of -121.6 dBc/Hz at the 1 MHz offset from 5 GHz signals. When the core current was set to 16 mA, phase noise of the VCO was minimized to -128.5 dBc/Hz at the same offset.