26 GHz VCO in 22 nm FDSOI Technology for RADAR Application

Abstract

A novel modified-Colpitts-Differential Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) is presented in this paper. The VCO is intended to be used in the application related to Frequency-Modulated-Continuous-Wave (FMCW) Radar. The VCO is de-signed to cover the frequency range from 23 GHz to 27.8 GHz. The RF output can be interfaced with a band-pass filter and an amplifier to obtain a clean third-harmonic spectrum. The VCO has drain-to-source feedback path and is realized using 22 nm FDSOI-CMOS technology from Globalfoundries. The paper covers design aspects, layout and simulation results of the fabricated VCO. The effect of process variation is also covered in this paper. The best simulated phase noise (@ 1 MHz offset) is -110.6 dBc/Hz at a central frequency of 24.5 GHz. The approximate overall power consumption of the VCO and buffer is 23 mW, and the circuit starts operating at a minimum-supply voltage of 700 mV. To stablize the frequency, VCO can be interfaced with other blocks of Phase-locked loop (PLL).