A 45 GHz CMOS VCO Adopting Digitally Switchable Metal-Oxide-Metal Capacitors

A 45 GHz millimeter-wave (MMW) VCO adopting digitally switchable metal-oxide-metal (MOM) capacitors as the tuning element is described in this work. The MOM capacitor is designed to have discrete capacitance values in order to extend frequency tuning range. The MMW VCO with the switchable MOM capacitor demonstrates an operation frequency ranging from 43.5 to 45.5 GHz. The measured phase noise at 3 MHz offset is less than -97 dBc/Hz across the entire frequency band. The VCO core consumes 4 mW power under a 1 V supply. The measured FoMT is -173.

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