34.4 A 9.05-to-37.0GHz LO Generator with Magnetic Mode Switching and Tuning-Free Octave-Bandwidth Common-Mode Resonator Achieving >190.7dBc/Hz FoM

VCOs with a wide tuning range (TR) are crucial for achieving universal frequency coverage in multi-band communications, software-defined radios, and electronic warfare applications. A TR exceeding one octave is particularly desirable, as it enables seamless frequency synthesis through cascade 72 dividers or x2 multipliers [1]. To enhance both TR and phase noise (PN), VCO architectures have evolved from single-core single-mode to multi-core multi-mode configurations [2]–[15]. Despite these advancements, octave-TR VCOs operating at >10GHz still face two major bottlenecks (Fig. 34.4.1, top).