A 40 GHz VCO with 9 to 15% tuning range in 0.13μm SOI CMOS

Abstract

A 40 GHz fully-monolithic complementary VCO fabricated in IBM 0.13 μm partially-depleted SOI CMOS technology is reported. The VCO operates at 1.5 V supply and draws 11.25 mW of power. The measured phase noise at 40 GHz is -109 dBc/Hz at 4 MHz offset from the carrier. At 1.5 V and 2 V VDD, the tuning range is 9% and 15% respectively, and the output power is -8 dBm and -5 dBm respectively. The VCO occupies a chip area of only 100 μm by 100 μm.