Dual-Channel Injection-Locked Quadrature LO Generation for a 4-GHz Instantaneous Bandwidth Receiver at 21-GHz Center Frequency

• Published in: IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques 2013-03, Vol.61 (3), p.1186-1199
• Main Authors: Elbadry, M., Sadhu, B., Qiu, J. X., Harjani, R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Band pass filters; Bandwidth; Channelized receiver; Circuit properties; Circuits of signal characteristics conditioning (including delay circuits); CMOS; Delay; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; divider; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronic circuits; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Harmonic analysis; Harmonics; injection locking; injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD); injection-locked frequency multiplier (ILFM); instantaneous wideband; Integrated circuits; Microwave circuits, microwave integrated circuits, microwave transmission lines, submillimeter wave circuits; Microwaves; multiplier injection-locked oscillator (ILO); oscillator; Oscillators; Oscillators, resonators, synthetizers; Phase noise; quadrature; quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO); Quadratures; Receivers; Reference signals; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Switches; voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)
• ISSN: 0018-9480; 1557-9670
• DOI: 10.1109/TMTT.2013.2241784

This paper presents a local oscillator (LO) generation scheme for a 21-GHz center-frequency 4-GHz instantaneous bandwidth channelized receiver. A single 1.33-GHz reference source is used to simultaneously generate 20- and 22-GHz LOs with quadrature outputs. Injection locking is used instead of conventional phase-locked loop techniques allowing low-power quadrature generation. A harmonic-rich signal, containing both even and odd harmonics of the input reference signal, is generated using a digital pulse slimmer. Two injection-locked oscillator chains are used to lock on to the 10th and 11th harmonics of the reference signal generating the 20- and 22-GHz quadrature LOs, respectively. The prototype design is implemented in IBM's 130-nm CMOS process, draws 110 mA from a 1.2-V supply, and occupies an active area of 1.8 mm 2 .