Investigation of low phase noise microwave oscillators with LTCC integration

Low phase noise oscillators are important for modern wireless communications. System-in-package design approaches are increasingly being sought for miniaturization and cost reduction. This thesis addresses both issues by investigating low phase noise oscillator designs using the device-line technique along with LTCC-based resonators. Two basic oscillator designs are pursued at S-band and C-band, demonstrating the validity and legitimacy of the device-line technique for achieving low phase noise and the ability to realize compact, high-Q resonators in an LTCC environment. At 6.09GHz the proposed oscillator produced 8.17 dBm of power and -125 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset for phase noise with a 260 mm 2 resonator having a Q of 125. The performance of this circuit is comparable to the best C-band published oscillators in recent literature.