A 15-GHz monolithic low phase noise VCO using AlGaAs/GaAs HBT

A 15-GHz monolithic low phase noise VCO (voltage controlled oscillator) IC constructed with an AlGaAs/GaAs HBT (heterojunction bipolar transistor) and a variable capacitance diode or varactor has been developed. The HBT and the varactor are constructed in an IC chip using a standard HBT IC process. A wide tuning range of about 600 MHz is obtained with varying control voltage from 0 to 4 V with an output power of more than -4 dBm. The low phase noise level for an offset frequency of 100 kHz of -85 dBc/Hz was measured at a frequency of 15.6 GHz.<<ETX>>

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