Performance comparison of differential K-band VCOs in 130 nm CMOS technology

This paper compares a conventional NMOS VCO with a transformer feedback (TF) VCO in 130 nm CMOS technology. A design procedure to achieve the optimum performance available is presented. Device sizes and biasing current are chosen for lowest possible phase noise. The conventional NMOS VCO achieves −103 dBc/Hz phase noise at 1 MHz offset with 2 GHz tuning range and 18 mW power consumption and the TFVCO shows −99 dBc/Hz phase noise at 1 MHz with 3.3 GHz tuning range and 5 mW power consumption.