A beyond 60GHz cross-coupled fundamental VCO in 45nm CMOS

Abstract

A beyond 60 GHz cross-coupled NMOS differential LC CMOS VCO is presented in this paper, which is implemented in 45nm standard CMOS technology. Working with a supply voltage of 1.2 V the circuit draws a current of 38mA (72mA including output buffer) and requires a circuit area of 0.037 mm2 including the differential output buffer without pads. The circuit delivers an output power of −9dBm to −11dBm and yields a measured phase noise of −100.02dBc/Hz at 10MHz offset. The VCO offers a frequency tuning range of 0.2GHz, while statistical process variation is manifested in a 4.5GHz VCO central frequency drift for different measured samples (from 68GHz to 72.5GHz).