A beyond 60GHz cross-coupled fundamental VCO in 45nm CMOS

A beyond 60 GHz cross-coupled NMOS differential LC CMOS VCO is presented in this paper, which is implemented in 45 nm standard CMOS technology. Working with a supply voltage of 1.2 V the circuit draws a current of 38 mA (72 mA including output buffer) and requires a circuit area of 0.037 mm² including the differential output buffer without pads. The circuit delivers an output power of -9 dBm to -11 dBm and yields a measured phase noise of -100.02 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz offset. The VCO offers a frequency tuning range of 0.2 GHz, while statistical process variation is manifested in a 4.5 GHz VCO central frequency drift for different measured samples (from 68 GHz to 72.5 GHz).