The VCOs in ISSCC 2023 set the new performance frontier of silicon-based oscillators

Haikun Jia

doi:10.1088/1674-4926/44/5/050202

J. Semicond. > 2023, Volume 44 > Issue 5 > 050202, doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/44/5/050202

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

The VCOs in ISSCC 2023 set the new performance frontier of silicon-based oscillators

Haikun Jia

+ Author Affiliations

Corresponding author: Haikun Jia, jiahaikun@tsinghua.edu.cn

References

[1]	Wu Q, Deng W, Jia H, et al. An 11.5-to-14.3GHz 192.8dBc/Hz FoM at 1MHz offset dual-core enhanced class-F VCO with common-mode-noise self-cancellation and isolation technique. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023, 146 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC42615.2023.10067672
[2]	Zhan X, Yin J, Mak P, et al. A 22.4-to-26.8GHz dual-path-synchronized quad-core oscillator achieving −138dBc/Hz PN and 193.3dBc/Hz FoM at 10MHz offset from 25.8GHz. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023, 148 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC42615.2023.10067277
[3]	Shu Y, Deng Z, Luo X. A 28GHz scalable inter-core-shaping multi-core oscillator with DM/CM-configured coupling achieving 193.3dBc/Hz FoM and 205.5dBc/Hz FoMA at 1MHz offset. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023, 150 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC42615.2023.10067826
[4]	Jia H K, Deng W, Guan P D, et al. A 60GHz 186.5dBc/Hz FoM quad-core fundamental VCO using circular triple-coupled transformer with No mode ambiguity in 65nm CMOS. 2021 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2021, 297 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC42613.2021.9366036
[5]	Guo H, Chen Y, Huang Y, et al. An 83.3-to-104.7GHz harmonic-extraction VCO incorporating multi-resonance, multi-core, and multi-mode (3M) techniques achieving –124dBc/Hz absolute PN and 190.7dBc/Hz FoM_T. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023, 152 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC42615.2023.10067832
[6]	Shu Y Y, Qian H J, Luo X. A 18.6-to-40.1GHz 201.7dBc/Hz FoMT multi-core oscillator using E-M mixed-coupling resonance boosting. 2020 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2020, 272 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC19947.2020.9063100
[7]	Gong J, Patra B, Enthoven L, et al. A 0.049mm² 7.1-to-16.8GHz dual-core triple-mode VCO achieving 200dB FoMA in 22nm FinFET. 2022 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2022, 152 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC42614.2022.9731752

Fig. 1. (Color online) The evolution of circular-transformer-based VCOs: (a) original topology in Ref. [4], (b) adding additional synchronization paths in Ref. [2], and (c) adding implicit common-mode resonance in Ref. [3].

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[1]	Wu Q, Deng W, Jia H, et al. An 11.5-to-14.3GHz 192.8dBc/Hz FoM at 1MHz offset dual-core enhanced class-F VCO with common-mode-noise self-cancellation and isolation technique. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023, 146 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC42615.2023.10067672
[2]	Zhan X, Yin J, Mak P, et al. A 22.4-to-26.8GHz dual-path-synchronized quad-core oscillator achieving −138dBc/Hz PN and 193.3dBc/Hz FoM at 10MHz offset from 25.8GHz. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023, 148 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC42615.2023.10067277
[3]	Shu Y, Deng Z, Luo X. A 28GHz scalable inter-core-shaping multi-core oscillator with DM/CM-configured coupling achieving 193.3dBc/Hz FoM and 205.5dBc/Hz FoMA at 1MHz offset. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023, 150 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC42615.2023.10067826
[4]	Jia H K, Deng W, Guan P D, et al. A 60GHz 186.5dBc/Hz FoM quad-core fundamental VCO using circular triple-coupled transformer with No mode ambiguity in 65nm CMOS. 2021 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2021, 297 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC42613.2021.9366036
[5]	Guo H, Chen Y, Huang Y, et al. An 83.3-to-104.7GHz harmonic-extraction VCO incorporating multi-resonance, multi-core, and multi-mode (3M) techniques achieving –124dBc/Hz absolute PN and 190.7dBc/Hz FoM_T. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023, 152 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC42615.2023.10067832
[6]	Shu Y Y, Qian H J, Luo X. A 18.6-to-40.1GHz 201.7dBc/Hz FoMT multi-core oscillator using E-M mixed-coupling resonance boosting. 2020 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2020, 272 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC19947.2020.9063100
[7]	Gong J, Patra B, Enthoven L, et al. A 0.049mm² 7.1-to-16.8GHz dual-core triple-mode VCO achieving 200dB FoMA in 22nm FinFET. 2022 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2022, 152 doi: 10.1109/ISSCC42614.2022.9731752