A Fundamental 90-GHz CMOS VCO Using New Ring-Coupled Quad

A new circuit topology, named ring-coupled quad for millimeter-wave voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) design, is proposed. The proposed circuit topology provides higher open loop voltage gain than conventional cross-coupled pair. The layout of the proposed ring-coupled quad is fully symmetric without additional interconnection lines. A 90-GHz VCO using 90-nm CMOS process is implemented with this ring-coupled quad. This 90-GHz oscillator demonstrates a 2.5-GHz tuning range and higher than ${-}$ 20 dBm output power. The proposed ring-coupled quad is suitable for the realization of high frequency VCOs.