| This thesis is about the design of high frequency, low noise and low power oscillators. Phase noise, frequency and power consumption are some of the important factors in VCO design.; As part of this research, two chips were fabricated using IBM's CMOS 0.13 micron RF technology. The first chip consisted of two high-frequency negative transconductance VCOs designed for oscillation frequencies of 20 GHz and 30 GHz, while measured oscillation frequencies were 16 GHz and 23 GHz, respectively. Both VCOs have also been tested to have a 1 GHz tuning range and consume less than 4 mA of current each.; The second chip consisted of three VCOs, expected to operate at 17 GHz and have a tuning range of 1 GHz, however, these have not been tested. The first is an improvement of the VCOs from the first chip. The second is a fully differential (input and output) negative Gm VCO. The third is also fully differential, but uses a constant current source.; A fully differential charge pump, operating at 200 MHz with a charge pump current of 200 muA, is also fabricated to complement the fully differential VCOs. |
