A Dual-Conduction Class-C VCO for a Low Supply Voltage

Kenichi OKADA; You NOMIYAMA; Rui MURAKAMI; Akira MATSUZAWA

doi:10.1587/transfun.E95.A.506

Special Section on Analog Circuit Techniques and Related Topics

A Dual-Conduction Class-C VCO for a Low Supply Voltage

Kenichi OKADA, You NOMIYAMA, Rui MURAKAMI, Akira MATSUZAWA

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Keywords: VCO, class-C, dual conduction, CMOS, low supply voltage, impulse sensitivity function (ISF)

JOURNAL RESTRICTED ACCESS

2012 Volume E95.A Issue 2 Pages 506-514

DOI https://doi.org/10.1587/transfun.E95.A.506

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Abstract

This paper proposes a dual-conduction class-C VCO for ultra-low supply voltages. Two cross-coupled NMOS pairs with different bias points are employed. These NMOS pairs realize an impulse-like current waveform to improve the phase noise in the low supply conditions. The proposed VCO was implemented in a standard 0.18µm CMOS technology, which oscillates at a carrier frequency of 4.5GHz with a 0.2-V supply voltage. The measured phase noise is -104dBc/Hz@1MHz-offset with a power consumption of 114µW, and the FoM is -187dBc/Hz.

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