A 17 dBm 64 GHz voltage controlled oscillator with power amplifier in a 0.13 μm SiGe BiCMOS technology

A 64 GHz voltage controlled oscillator with power amplifier is presented. It uses an LC type oscillator with a capacitively degenerated negative resistance core, and a class AB power amplifier to output 17 dBm of power with a phase noise of-100 dBc/Hz (at 600 kHz). The stand alone oscillator delivers 5 dBm of output power (8 dBm balanced) with phase noise of between -95 dBc/Hz and -100 dBc/Hz (at 600 KHz offset) and 2 GHz tuning range. Separate voltage rails of 4V, 2V, and IV are provided for the two stages of buffering and core, respectively, for a total power consumption of 130 mW. The PA is a class-AB push-pull amplifier made from two unbalanced cascode amplifiers with 15 dB power gain and 17 dBm saturated output power. The PA operates off the same 4 V rail as the VCO buffer, consuming up to 500 mW of power for power added efficiencies of between 6-10%.