Topology, Discontinuities and Dimension Effects on CMOS Rotary Traveling Wave Oscillators

In this article, a new method to extract the RLC parameters from the structure of a Rotating Traveling Wave Oscillator (RTWO) is described. The use of a 3D simulator (EMPRO) allow us to develop a precise analysis of the impact of the topology, the geometrical discontinuities, and the dimensions of the transmission lines, on the performance parameters of the RTWO, i.e. frequency of oscillation and power consumption. The results show that a right angle discontinuity compensation can reduce the power consumption up to 3.34% and, for RTWOs with a frequency range between 11.4 GHz and 11.5 GHZ, narrow transmission lines (as the technology is able) can reduce the power consumption up to 98%. Additionally, it was observed that the topology used affects the performance parameters, as there are more folds and overlaps between metal levels in the RTWO structure, and the frequency increases by 2.9% while the power consumption increases by 10.52%.