Design and Scaling of W-Band SiGe BiCMOS VCOs

• Published in: IEEE journal of solid-state circuits Vol. 42; no. 9; pp. 1821 - 1833
• Main Authors: Nicolson, S.T., Yau, K.H.K., Chevalier, P., Chantre, A., Sautreuil, B., Tang, K.W., Voinigescu, S.P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01-09-2007; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: BiCMOS integrated circuits; Buffers; Circuits; Condition monitoring; Germanium silicon alloys; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Inductors; Metal oxide semiconductors; Millimeter-wave integrated circuits; Monitors; MOSFETs; Noise; Optimization; Phase noise; Power generation; process monitor; SiGe BiCMOS technology; Silicon germanides; Silicon germanium; Varactors; Voltage-controlled oscillators; W-band voltage-controlled oscillators
• ISSN: 0018-9200; 1558-173X
• DOI: 10.1109/JSSC.2007.900769

This paper discusses the design of 77-106 GHz Colpitts VCOs fabricated in two generations of SiGe BiCMOS technology, with MOS and HBT varactors, and with integrated inductors. Based on a study of the optimal biasing conditions for minimum phase noise, it is shown that VCOs can be used to monitor the mm-wave noise performance of SiGe HBTs. Measurements show a 106 GHz VCO operating from 2.5 V with phase noise of -101.3 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset, which delivers +2.5 dBm of differential output power at 25degC, with operation verified up to 125degC. A BiCMOS VCO with a differential MOS-HBT cascode output buffer using 130 nm MOSFETs delivers +10.5 dBm of output power at 87 GHz.