A 9.4–11.7 GHz VCO in 0.12 µm SiGe BiCMOS with −123 dBc/Hz Phase Noise at 1 MHz Offset for 5G Systems

This paper presents a 9.4-11.7 GHz VCO designed in 0.12 μm SiGe BiCMOS with a 4-bit transformer-coupled capacitor bank. The oscillator uses a cross-coupled design utilizing 0.12 μm PMOS active devices and consumes 30 mA from a 2.5 V supply. A state-of-the-art phase noise of -123 dBc/Hz is measured at 1 MHz offset from the carrier resulting in a FoM and FoMT of -184 and -188, respectively. The application areas are in 5G 28 GHz and 39 GHz local oscillators with x2 and x3 frequency multipliers.