A Low Phase-Noise Ka-band GHz VCO in 22 nm FDSOI CMOS for 6G Applications

In this paper, we present a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) in 22 nm FDSOI CMOS technology for 6G wireless data communication systems. The VCO operates around a fundamental center frequency of 28.8 GHz. Additionally, it features the possibility to extract the second harmonic from the tail of the cross-coupled pair. The circuit draws 39 mA from a single 800 mV DC supply. A very low phase noise of -104.3 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz carrier offset was measured at a frequency of 28.54 GHz. The output power measured on a 50 Ω load impedance is -5.5 dBm.