Capabilities of a 10 GHz MEMS based VCO

Abstract

This paper report on the investigation of a MEMS based voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) at 10 GHz. The authors report that the MEMS IC concept turns out to a 8 dB phase noise improvement and 4 dB output power improvement at 10 GHz, compared to the MMIC technology using P+/Nwell varactors. Measurements have shown an improvement of resonator's quality factor of MEMS technology compared to MMIC technology. It is proposed a new design that takes into account these behaviors. The new MEMS based VCO is under construction and it should feature -87dBc/Hz @ 10 GHz offset with 4 dBm output power