An integrated frequency synthesizer for 81–86GHz satellite communications in 65nm CMOS

We present an integrated frequency synthesizer in 65nm CMOS to enable the 81–86GHz satellite communication transceiver. The frequency synthesizer is inserted in a two-step zero-IF millimeter-wave transceiver with LORF at 70–78GHz and LOIF at 1/8 of LORF to cover the desired entire frequency bands. It also features coarse phase rotation to endow beam forming capabilities for the intended communication system. The phase noise is ≪ −83dBc/Hz at 1MHz offset as extrapolated from measured value at 1/8 of the VCO frequency (∼9.4GHz). The measured reference spur is ≪−49dBc. Total synthesizer power consumption including LO buffers and phase rotators is 65mW at 1V power supply and the compact layout has rendered small synthesizer core area of 0.16mm².