Design of Low Phase-Noise Oscillators and Wideband VCOs in InGaP HBT Technology

A method for design of low phase-noise balanced-Colpitts (BC) fixed-frequency oscillators (FFOs) and wideband voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) is presented. Analytical expressions describe how to design an oscillator for best phase noise, given a limited Q factor and a certain active device. Th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques 2012-11, Vol.60 (11), p.3420-3430
Main Authors: Kuylenstierna, D., Lai, S., Mingquan Bao, Zirath, H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Balanced Colpitts (BC)
Capacitance
Circuit properties
colpitts vco
double tuned
Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits
Electronic circuits
Electronics
Exact sciences and technology
Heterojunction bipolar transistors
oscillator
Oscillators, resonators, synthetizers
Phase noise
Radiocommunications
Solid modeling
Telecommunications
Telecommunications and information theory
Transmitters. Receivers
Tuning
tuning range
Varactors
voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)
wideband
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A method for design of low phase-noise balanced-Colpitts (BC) fixed-frequency oscillators (FFOs) and wideband voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) is presented. Analytical expressions describe how to design an oscillator for best phase noise, given a limited Q factor and a certain active device. The theory needs only two free parameters: the impedance level ( Zc ) and tapping ratio ( n ) of the resonator. It is described how to chose ZC and n for low phase noise and large tuning range, respectively. The design method is verified with a low phase-noise FFO and a wideband VCO, both designed in InGaP HBT technology. The BC FFO presents a phase noise of 112 dBc/Hz at 100-kHz offset from a 9.2-GHz carrier. The wideband VCO implemented in the same technology presents a minimum phase noise of 106 dBc/Hz at 100-kHz offset from a 9-GHz carrier. Over the frequency range of 8.4-9.7 GHz, the phase noise is better than 102 dBc/Hz and the output power is 7 0.5 dBm. The wide tuning range, constant output power, and relatively constant and low phase noise are achieved due to double pairs of tuning varactors, one between emitters and one between collectors. To the authors' best knowledge, this type of double-tuned BC VCO topology has not been previously published.
ISSN:0018-9480
1557-9670
1557-9670
DOI:10.1109/TMTT.2012.2216893