Low-power voltage-controlled oscillators in 90-nm CMOS using high-quality thin-film postprocessed inductors

• Published in: IEEE journal of solid-state circuits Vol. 40; no. 9; pp. 1922 - 1931
• Main Authors: Linten, D., Xiao Sun, Carchon, G., Jeamsaksiri, W., Mercha, A., Ramos, J., Jenei, S., Wambacq, P., Dehan, M., Aspemyr, L., Scholten, A.J., Decoutere, S., Donnay, S., De Raedt, W.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01-09-2005; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Above IC; Applied sciences; Circuit properties; Circuits; CMOS; CMOS process; CMOS technology; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Dielectric substrates; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering; Electronic circuits; Electronics; Elektroteknik och elektronik; Energy consumption; Engineering and Technology; Exact sciences and technology; Hardware; inductor; Inductors; Input-output equipment; Integrated circuits; Magnetic devices; Noise; Offsets; oscillator (VCO); Oscillators, resonators, synthetizers; Packaging; Power consumption; Radio frequencies; Radio frequency; radio frequency (RF); Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Sun; Teknik; Thin film inductors; Thin films; Voltage controlled oscillators; voltage-controlled; voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO); Wafer scale integration; wafer-level packaging (WLP); Phase noise; Power oscillator; Voltage controlled oscillator; Radiofrequency; Inductor; Chip scale packaging; Thin film; Integrated circuit bonding; Low voltage; CMOS; Power consumption; wafer-level packaging (WLP); Power control; Thin film inductors; User interface; Complementary MOS technology; radio frequency (RF); Microwave oscillator; Radiofrequency integrated circuits; CMOS integrated circuits; Above IC; Low-power electronics; voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)
• ISSN: 0018-9200; 1558-173X
• DOI: 10.1109/JSSC.2005.848144

Wafer-level packaging (WLP) technology offers novel opportunities for the realization of high-quality on-chip passives needed in RF front-ends. This paper demonstrates a thin-film WLP technology on top of a 90-nm RF CMOS process with one 15-GHz and two low-power 5-GHz voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) using a high-quality WLP or above-IC inductor. The 5-GHz VCOs have a power consumption of 0.33 mW and a phase noise of -115 dBc/Hz and -111 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset, respectively, and the 15-GHz VCO has a phase noise of -105 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset with a power consumption of 2.76 mW.