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Institute of Korean Electrical and Electronics Engineers (한국전기전자학회)
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A W-band Compact and Wideband VCO Using Active Inductor in 0.15-㎛ GaAs pHEMT Technology

능동 인덕터를 이용한 0.15-㎛ GaAs pHEMT 기반 W-대역 VCO 설계

  • Dongkyo Kim (Dept. of Electronics Engineering, Dong-A University)
  • 김동교
  • Received : 2024.09.20
  • Accepted : 2024.09.27
  • Published : 2024.09.30
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Abstract

This paper presents a varactor-less voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) at W-band (75-110 GHz) with a compact size in a 0.15-㎛ GaAs pHEMT technology. For varactor-less frequency tuning, an inductive tuning circuit is employed. An active inductor is realized by the common-gate stage with gate termination and shows a wide tuning range with a high quality factor (Q-factor) compared with the conventional varactor diode. Colpitts topology with source feedback is employed for the oscillation core of the VCO. The varactor-less VCO exhibits a measured tuning range of 5.8 % and peak output power of 5.7 dBm at 88 GHz while the 146 mW of dc power is dissipated. Due to compact layout design, the chip size is only 0.48 mm2.

본 논문에서는 0.15-㎛ GaAs pHEMT 공정을 이용하여 설계된 버랙터 없는 W-band(75-110 GHz) 전압제어 발진기(VCO)를 소개한다. 능동 인덕터를 활용하여 버랙터 없는 주파수 조절을 구현하였으며 능동 인덕터 회로는 게이트가 종단된 공통 게이트 스테이지를 이용하였다. 해당 능동 인덕터는 시뮬레이션 결과 기존의 버랙터 다이오드와 비교하여 넓은 주파수 조절 범위와 높은 Q-인자를 갖는다. 발진기 코어는 소스 피드백이 포함된 Colpitts 구조를 사용하였다. 구현된 버랙터 없는 W-band VCO의 측정 결과 88 GHz에서 5.7 dBm의 높은 출력 전력과 5.8 %의 주파수 조절 범위를 얻었으며 이 때 dc 전력 소모는 146 mW였다. 또한 해당 회로는 컴팩트한 레이아웃 디자인을 통해서 0.48 mm2의 작은 사이즈로 구현되었다.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The EDA tool was supported by the IC Design Education Center(IDEC), Korea.

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