A linear, low-power, wideband CMOS VCO for FM-UWB applications

A linear, low-power, wideband 0.18-μm CMOS VCO for UWB applications is presented, as part of a PLL-based direct FM modulator for the 3.1–5-GHz UWB band. It consists of a frequency control circuit and a differential ring core, coupled to the antenna output and the PLL prescaler by two single-ended inverter buffers. The measured VCO exhibits a linear tuning range of 0.5–5.0 GHz, low power consumption of 2.5–10.5 mW, and an output power of −10 ± 1 dBm. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 1955–1958, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23547

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