Low-power low-phase-noise differentially tuned quadrature VCO design in standard CMOS

This paper describes the design and optimization of voltage controlled oscillators with quadrature outputs. Systematic design of fully integrated LC-VCOs with a high inductance tank leads to a cross-coupled double core LC-VCO as the optimal solution in terms of power consumption. Futhermore, a novel fully differential frequency tuning concept is introduced to ease high integration. The concepts are verified with a 0.25-mum standard CMOS fully integrated quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) for zero- or low-IF DCS1800, DECT, or GSM receivers. At 2.5-V power supply voltage and a total power dissipation of 20 mW, the quadrature VCO features a worst-case phase noise of - 143 dBc/Hz at 3-MHz frequency offset over the tuning range. The oscillator is tuned from 1.71 to 1.99 GHz through a differential nMOS/pMOS varactor input.