A 3.7-to-10 GHz Low Phase Noise Wideband LC-VCO Array in 55-nm CMOS Technology

This paper presents a four-core LC-VCO array in 55 nm CMOS technology. Based on the multi-core VCO array technology and the switched capacitor array technology, the tuning range is expanded, and the phase noise optimization in a wide tuning range is achieved based on the second harmonic noise filtering technology and the Q value degeneration technology, as well as the optimization of the capacitor array switching transistors. The proposed VCO array, occupying a chip area of 1.65 × 1.44 mm2, realizes a measured oscillation frequency range of about 3.7−10 GHz with phase noise of −127.5~−116.08 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz frequency offset, and achieves an output power of 2.69 dBm from a total power consumption of 52.8 mW.