LC Tank Differential Inductor-Coupled Dual-Core 60 GHz Push-Push VCO in 45 nm RF-SOI CMOS Technology

Abstract

This paper presents a 60 GHz dual-core push-push VCO in a 45 nm partially depleted (PD) RF Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) CMOS technology. The cores are coupled inductively via differential inductors. The best measured phase noise at 1 MHz offset from a 63 GHz carrier is -$94.4 dBc/Hz. The wideband continuous frequency-tuning-range (FTR) is 16 %. The DC power dissipation is 76 mW including fundamental 30 GHz and second harmonic (H2) 60 GHz output buffers at 1 V power supply voltage. The measurement results of a reference single-core VCO design proves the relative phase noise improvement of the implemented core-coupling technique. The chip area excluding pads is 0.09 mm2.