An LC VCO for High Power Millimeter-Wave Signal Generation

Abstract

The paper presents a G band second harmonic VCO in 0.25um InP DHBT technology. The VCO uses a cross-coupled topology with a capacitive emitter degeneration and a second order tank to peak second harmonic signal. The VCO presents a tuning range from 169-176GHz and delivers a peak power of -2.7dBm, biased at Vc=4V and Ic=46mA. To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first HBT cross-coupled VCO designed above 100 GHz.