A low phase noise 10 GHz VCO in 0.18/spl mu/m CMOS process

A fully integrated 10 GHz LC voltage controlled oscillator is presented. The VCO is implemented in 6 metal 0.18/spl mu/m CMOS process. The VCO achieves a wide tuning range of 20.1% (10.20 GHz to 12.48 GHz), and provides an output power of -3 dBm, while drawing 22.7 mA from 2.2 V power supply. The measured phase noise is -125.33 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from the carrier at 10.3 GHz. The VCO figure of merit is a record low -188 dBc/Hz.