A Wideband Low Phase-Noise LC-VCO With Programmable $K_{\rm VCO}$

A programmable voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) gain scheme is introduced to equalize the analog tuning range across the frequency range of a wideband VCO. The programmable VCO gain gives a possibility to trade VCO gain for phase noise performance. The test chip fabricated on a standard 130-nm CMOS technology achieves a measured phase noise of $-$ 126.8 dBc/Hz and $-$126.0 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset from 3.6-GHz and 4.0-GHz carriers, respectively. The VCO consumes less than 6 mA from a 1.8-V power supply.