6-to-13 GHz Voltage Controlled Oscillator with 7 dBm Output Power in 22 nm FD-SOI

A voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is presented with 6 to 13 GHz tuning range, split into two bands for application in baseband signal processing, multi-leafed or fractional clock-data-recovery architectures. The 22nm FD-SOI is used for the implementation. Cross-coupled p- and the nMOS pairs are used for the oscillator, with the advantages of this circuit detailed. To achieve the high tuning range, inductor switching is implemented. The inductor is custom-designed so a 70% area reduction is obtained in comparison with a standard inductor. This results in an active area for the VCO of 0.02 mm
²
. An output butter provides up to 7 dBm output power while the whole circuit supplied at 1V consumes 18mW of which 4.92 mW are drawn by the VCO core. On-wafer measurements show a total tuning range of 70% and phase noise in the low-frequency setting of -96.6dBc/Hz and -85.1dBc/Hz in the high-frequency mode at lMHz offset giving a maximum Figure of merit FOMT of 186.3 dBc. This design stands out for its excellent phase noise, power consumption, area and an outstanding tuning-range for the given operation frequency.