A Low Power Colpitts VCO With High-Q Transistor-Controlled Capacitor for mm-wave Applications
Journal
Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference Proceedings, APMC
Start Page
1
End Page
3
ISBN (of the container)
979-833153455-4
Date Issued
2026-02-18
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper presents two advanced design techniques for achieve low power consumption and phase noise (PN) below -110 dBc/Hz in a Ka-band differential Gm-boosted Colpitts VCO. The first technique utilizes a novel transistor-controlled capacitor method to enhance the Q-factor, while the second employs a dynamic forward biasing method to reduce power consumption. Measured results of the proposed differential Colpitts VCO demonstrate a phase noise of -112.23 dBc/Hz at a 10 MHz offset from a center frequency of 28.52 GHz and a tuning range of 13%. It operates with a power consumption of only 3.2 mW from a 0.8 V supply voltage and occupies a die area of 0.235 mm2, including pads. These findings underscore the effectiveness of the proposed techniques in achieving low power dissipation and excellent phase noise performance. The VCO attains a FoM of -176.3 dBc/Hz at a 10-MHz offset, making it a promising solution for Ka-band applications.
Event(s)
2025 Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference, APMC 2025
Subjects
dynamic forward-body bias
low power
phase noise
switched-capacitor bank
transistor-controlled capacitor
Publisher
IEEE
Type
conference paper