Compact Low Phase-Noise 23 GHz VCO Fabricated in a Commercial SiGe Bipolar Process

Abstract

The design, implementation and measurement of a differential monolithic SiGe VCO at 22.8 GHz is presented. The VCO was designed for a 3.5 V supply voltage with the oscillator core consuming 12 mA of current and the output buffer consuming 22 mA. The circuit area is very compact occupying an area of 230 ¿m x 290 ¿m. The VCO has a measured average output power of 2.2 dBm and an average SSB phase noise of -104 dBc/ Hz at 1 MHz offset from the carrier.