A voltage controlled oscillator using low temperature co-fired ceramics

A description of a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) fabricated using Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics (LTCC) is given. The capacitors and inductors that adjust the oscillation frequency are multilayer structures buried in the substrate. With phase-locked loop (PLL) techniques the VCO is suitable for a local oscillator used in 900 MHz cellular and cordless systems. A complete frequency synthesizer module that includes the digital phase comparator and dividers, loop filter, and VCO show that buried components is possible in LTCC and the module has exceptional performance with a reduction in size. Included is the module's measured data.