A CMOS triple-push 280-GHz VCO integrated with 1/16,384 divider chain

Abstract

In this work, a 280-GHz VCO integrated with a frequency divider with a large division ratio is presented. The triple-push Colpitts VCO, fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS technology, showed a tuning range of 279.9-283.0 GHz (3.1 GHz). The divider chain consists of two injection-locked frequency dividers (ILFDs and twelve current-mode logic (CML) dividers With the total division ratio of 16,384, the divider chain successfully divided the fundamental frequency (f0) of the VCO down to near 5.8 MHz. Total DC power consumption of the entire circuit was 131 mW.