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A 5-mW, 1.2–3.5-GHz Capacitive Degeneration in LC-Digitally-Controlled Oscillator for Nano-Satellite Frequency Synthesizers in 90-nm CMOS

Microelectronic and Instrumentation Laboratory (LR-13ES12), Faculty of Sciences, University of Monastir, 5019 Monastir, Tunisia

E-mail Address: sehmi.saad@fsm.rnu.tn

Corresponding author.

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Mongia Mhiri

Microelectronic and Instrumentation Laboratory (LR-13ES12), Faculty of Sciences, University of Monastir, 5019 Monastir, Tunisia

E-mail Address: mongia.mhiri@fsm.rnu.tn

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Aymen Ben Hammadi

Microelectronic and Instrumentation Laboratory (LR-13ES12), Faculty of Sciences, University of Monastir, 5019 Monastir, Tunisia

E-mail Address: aymen.benhammadi@fsm.rnu.tn

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Kamel Besbes

Microelectronic and Instrumentation Laboratory (LR-13ES12), Faculty of Sciences, University of Monastir, 5019 Monastir, Tunisia

Research Center for Microelectronics and Nanotechnology (CRMN), Techno-park of Sousse, 4000 Sousse, Tunisia

E-mail Address: kamel.besbes@fsm.rnu.tn

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218126616501590Cited by:9 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

This paper proposes an 8-bit LC tuned digitally-controlled oscillator (DCO) that exploits a new tunable active inductor (TAI) with a high $Q$ $Q$ -factor. This TAI achieves a maximum $Q$ $Q$ -factor value of 98 over a frequency range of 1770MHz. It tunes from 3.55nH to 15.2nH. The proposed TAI is used in the resonator of a wide tunable low-phase-noise DCO-LC oscillator. The tuning circuitry of the DCO with an additional resistance contributes to better effective capacitance characteristics as compared to the basic topology. Thanks to the capacitive degeneration network formed by a resistance connected in parallel with a capacity, the achieved frequency resolution is between 3kHz and 16kHz without any dithering. The proposed DCO with capacitive degeneration oscillates at a frequency that can be tuned from 1.22 to 3.52GHz with 65% tuning range. It consumes 5.2-mA current from a 1.0-V voltage supply, achieves a phase noise of $-$ $-$ 105.8dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset and exhibits a figure of merit (FoM) of $-$ $-$ 178dBc/Hz. The proposed digitally-controlled oscillator was implemented in TSMC 90-nm CMOS MS/RF technology.

This paper was recommended by Regional Editor Piero Malcovati.

Keywords:

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