A Novel Broad-Band MMIC VCO Using an Active Inductor

Hitoshi HAYASHI, Masahiro MURAGUCHI

Summary :

This paper proposes a novel broad-band MMIC VCO using an active inductor. This VCO is composed of a serial resonant circuit, in which the capacitor is in series with an active inductor that has a constant negative resistance. Since the inductance value of this active inductor is inversely proportional to the square of the transconductance and can vary widely with the FETs gate bias control, a broad-band oscillation tuning range can be obtained. Furthermore, since this active inductor can generate a constant negative resistance of more than 50Ω, the proposed VCO can oscillate against a 50Ω output load immediately without using additional impedance transformers. We have fabricated the VCO using a GaAs MESFET process. A frequency tuning range of more than 50%, from 1.56 to 2.85 GHz, with an output power of 4.41.0 dBm, was obtained. With a carrier of 2. 07 GHz, the phase noise at 1-MHz offset was less than -110 dBc/Hz. The chip size was less than 0. 61 mm², and the power consumption was 80 mW. This broad-band analog design can be used at microwave frequencies in PLL applications as a compact alternative to other types of oscillator circuits.

• Publication: IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Fundamentals Vol.E81-A No.2 pp.224-229
• Publication Date: 1998/02/25
• Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Section on Analog Circuit Techniques in the Digital-Oriented Era)

Authors

Hitoshi HAYASHI
Masahiro MURAGUCHI

Keyword

MMIC,  broad-band,  inductor,  active,  VCO