LC-VCO automatic synthesis using multi-objective evolutionary techniques

Typically the design of oscillators is done aiming at both minimum phase noise and minimum power consumption, however, these two objectives are contradictory. Yet, this tradeoff, which is also the base for the definition of the figure of merit of oscillators, is seldom explored is previous publications. In this paper, an LC-Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) was considered in a multi-objective optimization process, where the accuracy and reliability of the solution is guaranteed by the usage of a circuit simulator to evaluate the circuit performance. The state-of-the-art circuit optimization tool AIDA-C was used in the automatic synthesis of the LC-VCO, obtaining a set of about 40 design solutions with FOM bellow -191 dBc/Hz, where the power consumption varies from 0.22 to 0.46 mW and the phase noise varies from -120.47 to -116.72 dBc/Hz.