J. Semicond. > 2013, Volume 34 > Issue 8 > 085002
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SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

A dual-band quadrature VCO with gain proportional to oscillation frequency

Wenrui Zhu1, 2, Haigang Yang1, , Tongqiang Gao1 and Hui Zhang1

+ Author Affiliations

 Corresponding author: Yang Haigang, Email:yanghg@mail.ie.ac.cn

DOI: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/8/085002

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Abstract: This paper presents a novel dual-band quadrature voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) with the gain proportional to the oscillation frequency. Frequency synthesizers with this VCO can reduce the bandwidth fluctuation over all the frequency ranges without compensation or calibration. Besides the original switched capacitor array, an extra switched varactor array is adopted for the implementation of the proposed VCO. The tuning technique of changing the values of the capacitor and varactor at the same ratio is also derived. For verification purposes, a 2.5 G/3.5 G dual-band quadrature VCO is fabricated in a 0.13 μm CMOS process for WiMAX applications. Measurement results show that the VCO gain is closely proportional to the oscillation frequency with ±16% variation over the entire frequency range. The phase noise is -138.15 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz from the 2.5 GHz carrier and -137.44 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz from the 3.5 GHz carrier.

Key words: VCO, dual-band, tuning technique, constant bandwidth



[1]
Lu T Y, Chen W Z. A 3-10 GHz, 14 bands CMOS frequency synthesizer with spurs reduction for MB-OFDM UWB system. IEEE Tran Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Syst, 2012, 20:948 doi: 10.1109/TVLSI.2011.2134874
[2]
Catli B, Hella M M. A 1.94 to 2.55 GHz, 3.6 to 4.77 GHz tunable CMOS VCO based on double-tuned, double-driven coupled resonators. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2009, 44:2463 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2009.2023155
[3]
Park E C, Hauspie D, Craninckx J. Wideband VCO with simultaneous switching of frequency band, active core, and varactor size. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2007, 42:1472 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2007.899105
[4]
Xiao Shimao, Ma Chengyan, Ye Tianchun. A novel 2.95-3.65 GHz CMOS LC-VCO using tuning curve compensation. Journal of Semiconductors, 2009, 30(10):105001 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/30/10/105001
[5]
Li Bin, Fan Xiangning, Wang Zhigong. A wideband LC-VCO with small VCO gain variation and adaptive power control. Journal of Semiconductors, 2012, 33(10):105008 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/33/10/105008
[6]
Lu L, Chen J, Yuan L, et al. An 18-mW 1.175-2-GHz frequency synthesizer with constant bandwidth for DVB-T tuners. IEEE Trans Microw Theory Tech, 2009, 57(4):928 doi: 10.1109/TMTT.2009.2014449
[7]
Hauspie D, Park E C, Craninckx J. Wideband VCO with simultaneous switching of frequency band, active core, and varactor size. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2007, 42:1472 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2007.899105
[8]
Zhang H. Research into design techniques of reconfigurable phase-locked loop based on standard CMOS technology. Doctor Thesis, Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academic of Sciences, 2011(in Chinese)
[9]
Akamine Y, Kawabe M, Hori K, et al. Delta-sigma PLL transmitter with a loop-bandwidth calibration system. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2008, 43:497 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2007.914325
[10]
Rao A, Mansour M, Singh G, et al. A 4-6.4 GHz LC PLL with adaptive bandwidth control for a forwarded clock link. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2008, 43:2099 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2008.2001870
[11]
Shanan H, Retz G, Mulvaney K, et al. A 2.4 GHz 2 Mb/s versatile PLL-based transmitter using digital pre-emphasis and auto calibration in 0.18μm CMOS for WPAN. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, Digest of Technical Papers, 2009:420
[12]
Shin J, Shin H. A 1.9-3.8 GHz delta-sigma fractional-N PLL frequency synthesizer with fast auto-calibration of loop bandwidth and VCO frequency. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2012, 47:665 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2011.2179733
[13]
Wu T, Hanumolu P K, Mayaram K, et al. Method for a constant loop bandwidth in LC-VCO PLL frequency synthesizers. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2009, 44:427 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2008.2010792
[14]
Feng Y, Chen G. A fractional-N synthesizer for multi-mode positioning system with constant loop bandwidth. International Conference of Electron Devices and Solid-State Circuits (EDSSC), 2011:1 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6117626/?reload=true&arnumber=6117626&filter%3DAND%28p_IS_Number%3A6117556%29
[15]
Lu L, Gong Z, Liao Y, et al. A 975-to-1960 MHz fast-locking fractional-N synthesizer with adaptive bandwidth control and 4/4.5 prescaler for digital TV tuners. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, Digest of Technical Papers, 2009:96, 397a
[16]
Zhou Chunyuan, Zhang Lei, Qian He. A uniform phase noise QVCO with a feedback current source. Journal of Semiconductors, 2012, 33(7):075001 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/33/7/075001
[17]
Long Qiang, Zhuang Yiqi, Yin Yue, et al. Design of a CMOS multi-mode GNSS receiver VCO. Journal of Semiconductors, 2012, 33(5):055003 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/33/5/055003
Fig. 1.  Block diagram of a typical frequency synthesizer.

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Fig. 2.  Capacitor and varactor arrays in LC-VCO.

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Fig. 3.  Schematic of the proposed dual-band QVCO.

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Fig. 4.  Schematic of the QVCO single-side circuit.

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Fig. 5.  A die micrograph of the proposed QVCO.

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Fig. 6.  The tuning characteristics of the proposed QVCO.

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Fig. 7.  The average $K_{\rm VCO}$ versus centre frequency at each sub-band.

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Fig. 8.  The measured phase noise of the proposed QVCO at a 2.5 GHz carrier.

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Fig. 9.  The measured phase noise of the proposed QVCO at a 3.5 GHz carrier.

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Table 1.   Comparison of the proposed VCO with previous works.
[1]
Lu T Y, Chen W Z. A 3-10 GHz, 14 bands CMOS frequency synthesizer with spurs reduction for MB-OFDM UWB system. IEEE Tran Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Syst, 2012, 20:948 doi: 10.1109/TVLSI.2011.2134874
[2]
Catli B, Hella M M. A 1.94 to 2.55 GHz, 3.6 to 4.77 GHz tunable CMOS VCO based on double-tuned, double-driven coupled resonators. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2009, 44:2463 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2009.2023155
[3]
Park E C, Hauspie D, Craninckx J. Wideband VCO with simultaneous switching of frequency band, active core, and varactor size. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2007, 42:1472 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2007.899105
[4]
Xiao Shimao, Ma Chengyan, Ye Tianchun. A novel 2.95-3.65 GHz CMOS LC-VCO using tuning curve compensation. Journal of Semiconductors, 2009, 30(10):105001 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/30/10/105001
[5]
Li Bin, Fan Xiangning, Wang Zhigong. A wideband LC-VCO with small VCO gain variation and adaptive power control. Journal of Semiconductors, 2012, 33(10):105008 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/33/10/105008
[6]
Lu L, Chen J, Yuan L, et al. An 18-mW 1.175-2-GHz frequency synthesizer with constant bandwidth for DVB-T tuners. IEEE Trans Microw Theory Tech, 2009, 57(4):928 doi: 10.1109/TMTT.2009.2014449
[7]
Hauspie D, Park E C, Craninckx J. Wideband VCO with simultaneous switching of frequency band, active core, and varactor size. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2007, 42:1472 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2007.899105
[8]
Zhang H. Research into design techniques of reconfigurable phase-locked loop based on standard CMOS technology. Doctor Thesis, Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academic of Sciences, 2011(in Chinese)
[9]
Akamine Y, Kawabe M, Hori K, et al. Delta-sigma PLL transmitter with a loop-bandwidth calibration system. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2008, 43:497 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2007.914325
[10]
Rao A, Mansour M, Singh G, et al. A 4-6.4 GHz LC PLL with adaptive bandwidth control for a forwarded clock link. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2008, 43:2099 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2008.2001870
[11]
Shanan H, Retz G, Mulvaney K, et al. A 2.4 GHz 2 Mb/s versatile PLL-based transmitter using digital pre-emphasis and auto calibration in 0.18μm CMOS for WPAN. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, Digest of Technical Papers, 2009:420
[12]
Shin J, Shin H. A 1.9-3.8 GHz delta-sigma fractional-N PLL frequency synthesizer with fast auto-calibration of loop bandwidth and VCO frequency. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2012, 47:665 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2011.2179733
[13]
Wu T, Hanumolu P K, Mayaram K, et al. Method for a constant loop bandwidth in LC-VCO PLL frequency synthesizers. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2009, 44:427 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2008.2010792
[14]
Feng Y, Chen G. A fractional-N synthesizer for multi-mode positioning system with constant loop bandwidth. International Conference of Electron Devices and Solid-State Circuits (EDSSC), 2011:1 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6117626/?reload=true&arnumber=6117626&filter%3DAND%28p_IS_Number%3A6117556%29
[15]
Lu L, Gong Z, Liao Y, et al. A 975-to-1960 MHz fast-locking fractional-N synthesizer with adaptive bandwidth control and 4/4.5 prescaler for digital TV tuners. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, Digest of Technical Papers, 2009:96, 397a
[16]
Zhou Chunyuan, Zhang Lei, Qian He. A uniform phase noise QVCO with a feedback current source. Journal of Semiconductors, 2012, 33(7):075001 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/33/7/075001
[17]
Long Qiang, Zhuang Yiqi, Yin Yue, et al. Design of a CMOS multi-mode GNSS receiver VCO. Journal of Semiconductors, 2012, 33(5):055003 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/33/5/055003

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    Received: 21 January 2013 Revised: 17 February 2013 Online: Published: 01 August 2013

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      Article Navigation >  Journal of Semiconductors  > 2013  >  34(8): 085002
      Wenrui Zhu, Haigang Yang, Tongqiang Gao, Hui Zhang. A dual-band quadrature VCO with gain proportional to oscillation frequency[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2013, 34(8): 085002. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/8/085002 ****W R Zhu, H G Yang, T Q Gao, H Zhang. A dual-band quadrature VCO with gain proportional to oscillation frequency[J]. J. Semicond., 2013, 34(8): 085002. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/8/085002.
      Citation:
      Wenrui Zhu, Haigang Yang, Tongqiang Gao, Hui Zhang. A dual-band quadrature VCO with gain proportional to oscillation frequency[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2013, 34(8): 085002. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/8/085002 ****
      W R Zhu, H G Yang, T Q Gao, H Zhang. A dual-band quadrature VCO with gain proportional to oscillation frequency[J]. J. Semicond., 2013, 34(8): 085002. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/8/085002.
      shu

      A dual-band quadrature VCO with gain proportional to oscillation frequency

      DOI: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/8/085002
      • 1.

        Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

      • 2.

        University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

      Funds:

      the National Natural Science Foundation of China 61106025

      the National High Technology Research & Development Program of China 2012AA012301

      Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61106025) and the National High Technology Research & Development Program of China (No. 2012AA012301)

      More Information
      • Corresponding author: Yang Haigang, Email:yanghg@mail.ie.ac.cn
      • Received Date: 2013-01-21
      • Revised Date: 2013-02-17
      • Published Date: 2013-08-01

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