A 13 GHz 3:2 transformer based linear transconductance VCO

This paper describes a 13 GHz 3:2 transformer based linear transconductance (LiT) voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) in 65 nm RF CMOS process. Transconductance linearization technique which is simply realized by a 3:2 transformer is used for good phase noise performance. An injection-locked buffer is designed for high output power. The measured output frequency of the proposed VCO shows 12.25 GHz ~ 12.86 GHz and 12.86 GHz ~ 13.52 GHz. The phase noise of the VCO is -113.94 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset frequency. DC power consumption of the VCO core and the buffer is 7.7 mW and 21.6 mW, respectively.