Experimental Analysis of the Coupling Mechanisms Between a 4 GHz PPA and a 5–7 GHz $LC$ -VCO

Author

Bronckers, Stephane ; Vandersteen, Gerd ; De Locht, L. ; Libois, Michael ; Van der Plas, G. ; Rolain, Yves

Author_Institution

Inter-Univ. Microelectron. Centrum (IMEC), Leuven, Belgium

Volume

58

Issue

8

fYear

2009

Firstpage

2706

Lastpage

2713

Abstract

The coupling of the transmitted radio-frequency (RF) signal of the power amplifier (PA) in the sensitive voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) remains a major problem for system-on-chip (SoC) design. Coupling between these two circuits may cause malfunctioning of the system. This paper analyzes the different coupling mechanisms between a 4 GHz prepower amplifier (PPA) and a 5-7 GHz LC-VCO designed in 0.13 mum technology. Different experiments are carried out to reveal the dominant coupling mechanisms. Insight into these mechanisms leads to the proposal of proper countermeasures.

Keywords

CMOS integrated circuits; MMIC oscillators; MMIC power amplifiers; field effect MMIC; voltage-controlled oscillators; LC-VCO; PPA; SoC design; coupling mechanism; frequency 4 GHz; frequency 5 GHz to 7 GHz; prepower amplifier; size 0.13 mum; system-on-chip design; transmitted radio-frequency signal; voltage-controlled oscillator; Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit; guard ring; isolation; magnetic coupling; power amplifier (PA); substrate noise; voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TIM.2009.2015705

Filename

4840384

Experimental Analysis of the Coupling Mechanisms Between a 4 GHz PPA and a 5–7 GHz -VCO

Bronckers, Stephane ; Vandersteen, Gerd ; De Locht, L. ; Libois, Michael ; Van der Plas, G. ; Rolain, Yves

jour

Experimental Analysis of the Coupling Mechanisms Between a 4 GHz PPA and a 5–7 GHz $LC$ -VCO