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Frequency modulation (FM) is a class of analog modulation techniques that rely on varying the instantaneous frequency of a radio-frequency (RF) carrier in accordance with the baseband signal. The amplitude of the FM signal is constant, while its instantaneous frequency is time variant; therefore, the zero crossing rate (ZCR) of the carrier differs at a rate proportional to the Nyquist rate of the baseband signal. Unlike amplitude modulation (AM), FM is a nonlinear modulation technique; therefore, the calculation of the spectrum of an FM signal is expected to be a tedious mathematical problem.

This work presents a novel RF on-chip inductor that overcomes the problems with conventional large-sized inductors, which cannot be placed in an integrated circuit (IC) for large inductance values. The proposed inductor depends mainly on the meminductor, a new passive circuit element that has memory properties. This new circuit element is argued to be common in the nanoscale, where the dynamical properties of electrons and ions are likely to depend on the history of the system. Being nonlinear, it is shown that, by a suitable arrangement of meminductors and through appropriate initial values for their inductances, we can achieve a linear nanoscale inductor.