Design of a 12 channel fm microwave receiver

The design, fabrication, and performance of elements of a low cost FM microwave satellite ground station receiver is described. It is capable of accepting 12 contiguous color television equivalent bandwidth channels in the 11.72 to 12.2 GHz band. Each channel is 40 MHz wide and incorporates a 4 MHz guard band. The modulation format is wideband FM and the channels are frequency division multiplexed. Twelve independent CATV compatible baseband outputs are provided. The overall system specifications are first discussed, then consideration is given to the receiver subsystems and the signal branching network

Terahertz Technology and Its Applications

The Terahertz frequency range (0.1 – 10)THz has demonstrated to provide many opportunities in prominent research fields such as high-speed communications, biomedicine, sensing, and imaging. This spectral range, lying between electronics and photonics, has been historically known as “terahertz gap” because of the lack of experimental as well as fabrication technologies. However, many efforts are now being carried out worldwide in order improve technology working at this frequency range. This book represents a mechanism to highlight some of the work being done within this range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The topics covered include non-destructive testing, teraherz imaging and sensing, among others

Program on application of communications satellites to educational development: Design of a 12 channel FM microwave receiver

The design, fabrication, and performance of elements of a low cost FM microwave satellite ground station receiver is described. It is capable of accepting 12 contiguous color television equivalent bandwidth channels in the 11.72 to 12.2 GHz band. Each channel is 40 MHz wide and incorporates a 4 MHz guard band. The modulation format is wideband FM and the channels are frequency division multiplexed. Twelve independent CATV compatible baseband outputs are provided. The overall system specifications are first discussed, then consideration is given to the receiver subsystems and the signal branching network

Analysis and Design of a Sub-THz Ultra-Wideband Phased-Array Transmitter

This thesis investigates circuits and systems for broadband high datarate transmitter systems in the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) spectrum. During the course of this dissertation, the design process and characterization of a power efficient and wideband binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) transmitter integrated circuit (IC) with local oscillator (LO) frequency multiplication and 360° phase control for beam steering is studied. All required circuit blocks are designed based on the theoretical analysis of the underlying principles, optimized, fabricated and characterized in the research laboratory targeting low power consumption, high efficiency and broadband operation. The phase-controlled push-push (PCPP) architecture enabling frequency multiplication by four in a single stage is analytically studied and characterized finding an optimum between output power and second harmonic suppression depending on the input amplitude. A PCPP based LO chain is designed. A circuit is fabricated establishing the feasibility of this architecture for operation at more than 200 GHz. Building on this, a second circuit is designed, which produces among the highest saturated output powers at 2 dBm. At less than 100 mW of direct current (DC) power consumption, this results in a power-added efficiency (PAE) of 1.6 % improving the state of the art by almost 30 %. Phase-delayed and time-delayed approaches to beam steering are analyzed, identifying and discussing design challenges like area consumption, signal attenuation and beam squint. A 60 GHz active vector-sum phase-shifter with high gain of 11.3 dB and output power of 5 dBm, improving the PAE of the state of the art by a factor of 30 achieving 6.29 %, is designed. The high gain is possible due to an optimization of the orthogonal signal creation stage enabled by studying and comparing different architectures leading to a trade off of lower signal attenuation for higher area consumption in the chosen electromagnetic coupler. By combining this with a frequency quadrupler, a phase steering enabled LO chain for operation at 220 GHz is created and characterized, confirming the preceding analysis of the phase-frequency relation during multiplication. It achieves a power gain of 21 dB, outperforming comparable designs by 25 dB. This allows the combination of phase control, frequency multiplication and pre-amplification. The radio frequency (RF) efficiency is increased 40-fold to 0.99 %, with a total power consumption of 105 mW. Motivated by the distorting effect of beam squint in phase-delayed broadband array systems, a novel analog hybrid beam steering architecture is devised, combining phase-delayed and time-delayed steering with the goal of reducing the beam squint of phase-delayed systems and large area consumption of time-delayed circuits. An analytical design procedure is presented leading to the research finding of a beam squint reduction potential of more than 83 % in an ideal system. Here, the increase in area consumption is outweighed by the reduction in beam squint. An IC with a low power consumption of 4.3 mW has been fabricated and characterized featuring the first time delay circuit operating at above 200 GHz. By producing most of the beam direction by means of time delay the beam squinting can be reduced by more than 75 % in measurements while the subsequent phase shifter ensures continuous beam direction control. Together, the required silicon area can be reduced to 43 % compared to timedelayed systems in the same frequency range. Based on studies of the optimum signal feeding and input matching of a Gilbert cell, an ultra-wideband, low-power mixer was designed. A bandwidth of more than 100 GHz was achieved exceeding the state of the art by 23 %. With a conversion gain of –13 dB, this enables datarates of more than 100 Gbps in BPSK operation. The findings are consolidated in an integrated transmitter operating around 246 GHz doubling the highest published measured datarates of transmitters with LO chain and power amplifier in BPSK operation to 56 Gbps. The resulting transmitter efficiency of 7.4 pJ/bit improves the state of the art by 70 % and 50 % over BPSK and quadrature phaseshift keying (QPSK) systems, respectively. Together, the results of this work form the basis for low-power and efficient next-generation wireless applications operating at many times the datarates available today.:Abstract 3 Zusammenfassung 5 List of Symbols 11 List of Acronyms 17 Prior Publications 19 1. Introduction 21 1.1. Motivation........................... 21 1.2. Objective of this Thesis ................... 25 1.3. Structure of this Thesis ................... 27 2. Overview of Employed Technologies and Techniques 29 2.1. IntegratedCircuitTechnology................ 29 2.2. Transmission Lines and Passive Structures . . . . . . . . 35 2.3. DigitalModulation ...................... 41 3. Frequency Quadrupler 45 3.1. Theoretical Analysis of Frequency Multiplication Circuits 45 3.2. Phase-Controlled Push-Push Principle for Frequency Quadrupling.......................... 49 3.3. Stand-alone Phase-Controlled Push-Push Quadrupler . 60 3.4. Phase-Controlled Push-Push Quadrupler based LO-chain with High Output Power ............... 72 9 4. Array Systems and Dynamic Beam Steering 91 4.1. Theoretical Analysis of BeamSteering. . . . . . . . . . . 95 4.2. Local Oscillator Phase Shifting with Vector-Modulator PhaseShifters......................... 107 4.3. Hybrid True-Time and Phase-Delayed Beam Steering . 131 5. Ultra-Wide Band Modulator for BPSK Operation 155 6. Broadband BPSK Transmitter System for Datarates up to 56 Gbps 167 6.1. System Architecture ..................... 168 6.2. Measurement Technique and Results . . . . . . . . . . . 171 6.3. Summary and performance comparison . . . . . . . . . 185 7. Conclusion and Outlook 189 A. Appendix 195 Bibliography 199 List of Figures 227 Note of Thanks 239 Curriculum Vitae 241Diese Dissertation untersucht Schaltungen und Systeme für breitbandige Transmittersysteme mit hoher Datenrate im Millimeterwellen (mm-wave) Spektrum. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit werden der Entwurfsprozess und die Charakterisierung eines leistungseffizienten und breitbandigen integrierten Senders basierend auf binärer Phasenumtastung (BPSK) mit Frequenzvervielfachung des Lokaloszillatorsignals und 360°-Phasenkontrolle zur Strahlsteuerung untersucht. Alle erforderlichen Schaltungsblöcke werden auf Grundlage von theoretischen Analysen der zugrundeliegenden Prinzipien entworfen, optimiert, hergestellt und im Forschungslabor charakterisiert, mit den Zielen einer niedrigen Leistungsaufnahme, eines hohen Wirkungsgrades und einer möglichst großen Bandbreite. Die phasengesteuerte Push-Push (PCPP)-Architektur, welche eine Frequenzvervierfachung in einer einzigen Stufe ermöglicht, wird analytisch untersucht und charakterisiert. Dabei wird ein Optimum zwischen Ausgangsleistung und Unterdrückung der zweiten Harmonischen des Eingangssignals in Abhängigkeit von der Eingangsamplitude gefunden. Es wird eine LO-Kette auf PCPP-Basis entworfen. Eine Schaltung wird präsentiert, die die Machbarkeit dieser Architektur für den Betrieb bei mehr als 200 GHz nachweist. Darauf aufbauend wird eine zweite Schaltung entworfen, die mit 2 dBm eine der höchsten publizierten gesättigten Ausgangsleistungen erzeugt. Mit einer Leistungsaufnahme von weniger als 100mW ergibt sich ein Leistungswirkungsgrad (PAE) von 1.6 %, was den Stand der Technik um fast 30 % verbessert. Es werden phasenverzögerte und zeitverzögerte Ansätze zur Steuerung der Strahlrichtung analysiert, wobei Entwicklungsherausforderungen wie Flächenverbrauch, Signaldämpfung und Strahlschielen identifiziert und diskutiert werden. Ein aktiver Vektorsummen-Phasenschieber mit hoher Verstärkung von 11.3 dB und einer Ausgangsleistung von 5 dBm, der mit einer PAE von 6.29 % den Stand der Technik um den Faktor 30 verbessert, wird entworfen. Die hohe Verstärkung ist zum Teil auf eine Optimierung der orthogonalen Signalerzeugungsstufe zurückzuführen, die durch die Untersuchung und den Vergleich verschiedener Architekturen ermöglicht wird. Bei der Entscheidung für einen elektromagnetischen Koppler rechtfertigt die geringere Signaldämpfung einen höheren Flächenverbrauch. Durch die Kombination mit einem Frequenzvervierfacher wird eine LO-Kette mit Phasensteuerung für den Betrieb bei 220 GHz geschaffen und charakterisiert, was die vorangegangene Analyse der Phasen-FrequenzBeziehung während der Multiplikation bestätigt. Sie erreicht einen Leistungsgewinn von 21 dB und übertrifft damit vergleichbare Designs um 25dB. Dies ermöglicht die Kombination von Phasensteuerung, Frequenzvervielfachung und Vorverstärkung. Der HochfrequenzWirkungsgrad wird um das 40-fache auf 0.99 % bei einer Gesamtleistungsaufnahme von 105 mW gesteigert. Motiviert durch den verzerrenden Effekt des Strahlenschielens in phasengesteuerten Breitbandarraysystemen, wird eine neuartige analoge hybride Strahlsteuerungsarchitektur untersucht, die phasenverzögerte und zeitverzögerte Steuerung kombiniert. Damit wird sowohl das Strahlenschielen phasenverzögerter Systeme als auch der große Flächenverbrauch zeitverzögerter Schaltungen reduziert. Es wird ein analytisches Entwurfsverfahren vorgestellt, das zu dem Forschungsergebnis führt, dass in einem idealen System ein Potenzial zur Reduktion des Strahlenschielens von mehr als 83 % besteht. Dabei wird die Zunahme des Flächenverbrauchs durch die Verringerung des Strahlenschielens aufgewogen. Es wird ein IC mit einer geringen Leistungsaufnahme von 4.3mW hergestellt und charakterisiert. Dabei wird die erste Zeitverzögerungsschaltung entworfen, die bei über 200 GHz arbeitet. Durch die Erzeugung eines Großteils der Strahlrichtung mittels Zeitverzögerung kann das Schielen des Strahls bei Messungen um mehr als 75% reduziert werden, während der nachfolgende Phasenschieber eine kontinuierliche Steuerung der Strahlrichtung gewährleistet. Insgesamt kann die benötigte Siliziumfläche im Vergleich zu zeitverzögerten Systemen im gleichen Frequenzbereich auf 43 % reduziert werden. Auf der Grundlage von Studien zur optimalen Signaleinspeisung und Eingangsanpassung einer Gilbert-Zelle wird ein Ultrabreitband-Mischer mit geringem Stromverbrauch entworfen. Dieser erreicht eine Ausgangsbandbreite von mehr als 100 GHz, die den Stand der Technik um 23% übertrifft. Bei einer Wandlungsverstärkung von –13dB ermöglicht dies Datenraten von mehr als 100 Gbps im BPSK-Betrieb. Die Erkenntnisse werden in einem integrierten, breitbandigen Sender konsolidiert, der um 246 GHz arbeitet und die höchsten veröffentlichten gemessenen Datenraten für Sender mit LO-Signalkette und Leistungsverstärker im BPSK-Betrieb auf 56 Gbps verdoppelt. Die daraus resultierende Transmitter-Effizienz von 7.4 pJ/bit verbessert den Stand der Technik um 70 % bzw. 50 % gegenüber BPSKund Quadratur Phasenumtastung (QPSK)-Systemen. Zusammen bilden die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit die Grundlage für stromsparende, effiziente, mobile Funkanwendungen der nächsten Generation mit einem Vielfachen der heute verfügbaren Datenraten.:Abstract 3 Zusammenfassung 5 List of Symbols 11 List of Acronyms 17 Prior Publications 19 1. Introduction 21 1.1. Motivation........................... 21 1.2. Objective of this Thesis ................... 25 1.3. Structure of this Thesis ................... 27 2. Overview of Employed Technologies and Techniques 29 2.1. IntegratedCircuitTechnology................ 29 2.2. Transmission Lines and Passive Structures . . . . . . . . 35 2.3. DigitalModulation ...................... 41 3. Frequency Quadrupler 45 3.1. Theoretical Analysis of Frequency Multiplication Circuits 45 3.2. Phase-Controlled Push-Push Principle for Frequency Quadrupling.......................... 49 3.3. Stand-alone Phase-Controlled Push-Push Quadrupler . 60 3.4. Phase-Controlled Push-Push Quadrupler based LO-chain with High Output Power ............... 72 9 4. Array Systems and Dynamic Beam Steering 91 4.1. Theoretical Analysis of BeamSteering. . . . . . . . . . . 95 4.2. Local Oscillator Phase Shifting with Vector-Modulator PhaseShifters......................... 107 4.3. Hybrid True-Time and Phase-Delayed Beam Steering . 131 5. Ultra-Wide Band Modulator for BPSK Operation 155 6. Broadband BPSK Transmitter System for Datarates up to 56 Gbps 167 6.1. System Architecture ..................... 168 6.2. Measurement Technique and Results . . . . . . . . . . . 171 6.3. Summary and performance comparison . . . . . . . . . 185 7. Conclusion and Outlook 189 A. Appendix 195 Bibliography 199 List of Figures 227 Note of Thanks 239 Curriculum Vitae 24

Low cost ground receiving systems for television signals from high powered communications satellites, volume 1

The fabrication and evaluation of 10 engineering prototype ground signal processing systems of three converter types are reported for use with satellite television. Target cost converters and cost sensitivity analysis are discussed along with the converter configurations

Design and characterisation of millimetre wave planar Gunn diodes and integrated circuits

Heterojunction planar Gunn devices were first demonstrated by Khalid et al in 2007. This new design of Gunn device, or transferred electron device, was based on the well-established material system of GaAs as the oscillation media. The design did not only breakthrough the frequency record of GaAs for conventional Gunn devices, but also has several advantages over conventional Gunn devices, such as the possibility of making multiple oscillators on a single chip and compatibility with monolithic integrated circuits. However, these devices faced the challenge of producing high enough RF power for practical applications and circuit technology for integration. This thesis describes systematic work on the design and characterisations of planar Gunn diodes and the associated millimetre-wave circuits for RF signal power enhancement. Focus has been put on improving the design of planar Gunn diodes and developing high performance integrated millimetre-wave circuits for combining multiple Gunn diodes. Improvement of device design has been proved to be one of the key methods to increase the signal power. By introducing additional δ-doping layers, electron concentration in the channel increases and better Gunn domain formation is achieved, therefore higher RF power and frequency are produced. Combining multiple channels in the vertical direction within devices is another effective way to increase the output signal power as well as DC-to-RF conversion efficiency. In addition, an alternative material system, i.e. In0.23Ga0.77As, has also been studied for this purpose. Planar passive components, such as resonators, couplers, low pass filters (LPFs), and power combiners with high performance over 100 GHz have been developed. These components can be smoothly integrated with planar Gunn diodes for compact planar Gunn oscillators, and therefore contribute to RF power enhancement. In addition, several new measurement techniques for characterising oscillators and passive devices have also been developed during this work and will be included in this thesis

Active-Integrated Self-Oscillating Image Reject Mixer (IRM)

A conventional image reject mixer (IRM) is composed of an antenna, a radio frequency (RF) hybrid coupler, low noise amplifiers (LNAs), an external local oscillator (LO), mixers, intermediate frequency (IF) filters, and an IF hybrid coupler. The usage of the RF hybrid coupler and the external LO in the conventional IRM not only consume large space, the interconnections for the LO to the mixer as well as the interconnections for the RF hybrid coupler with the antenna and the mixer also result in losses. These drawbacks eventually affect the performance of the overall system. In view of these concerns, this research introduces a new architecture that eliminates the need of the RF hybrid coupler and external LO, entitled ‘Active-Integrated Self- Oscillating Image Reject Mixer (AISOIRM)’. The objectives of this research are to embed an active integrated antenna (AIA), a self-oscillating mixer (SOM), an IRM together into a single platform, and subsequently to implement, to characterize, as well as to evaluate the design in ensuring its performance is compatible with that of the conventional IRM. As a proof-of-concept work, this research realizes the AISOIRM architecture that operates in the 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band. Its RF is assigned at 2.4 GHz and its LO frequency is 2.5 GHz. With this, the down-converted IF is 100 MHz. Two different topologies are designed. One adopts an E-shaped active antenna which supports an in-phase RF power divider function, namely the E-Topology. The other uses an F-shaped active antenna which supports a quadrature-phase RF power divider function, namely the F-Topology. Each of these topologies is configured in two different ways. The first configuration embeds both the antenna and IRM directly. Thereby, the configuration with the Eshaped antenna is named as ‘E-AISOIRM’ while the configuration with the F-shaped antenna is called ‘F-AISOIRM’. The second configuration cascades the amplifiers between the antenna and the IRM to increase the RF and LO signal levels that are delivered into the mixer. Thereby, the configuration with the E-shaped antenna is named as ‘E-Amp-AISOIRM’ while the configuration with the F-shaped antenna is called ‘F-Amp-AISOIRM’. The AISOIRM architecture eliminates the need of the RF hybrid coupler and external LO mainly by resonating its AIA at both the RF and LO frequencies. Aside from functioning as a passive radiator, the antenna also functions as an RF power divider, which replaces the need of the RF hybrid coupler. Correspondingly, the SOM is formed by merging the LO port of the antenna with the LO path of the IRM and the core mixer. This way, the LO signal is received from the antenna and injected into the mixer. Hence, the external LO source is omitted. To initiate the AISOIRM research, relevant literatures are first reviewed. This is followed by the theoretical calculations and simulations of the designs. During the theoretical calculations, the phase cancellation mechanism of both the E-AISOIRM and F-AISOIRM are analyzed mathematically. After this, all the four AISOIRM designs along with the antennas and sub-circuit designs are simulated using Advanced Design System (ADS). Three levels of simulation are performed. The ideal block design simulation performs a preliminary analysis on the overall designs, the circuit design simulation verify the schematics of the designs, and the circuitlayout design simulation finalizes the designs by taking into account the simulated effects of the layouts and printed circuit boards (PCBs) on the circuit designs. The finalized designs are then implemented, whereby the prototypes are assembled and characterized. The results obtained from the evaluations are subsequently analyzed. It is noted that the measured image rejection ratio (IRR) obtained for all the designs are greater than 15 dB, when biased near to the mixer transistor pinch-off at 0.7 V and supplied with the LNA optimum bias at 2.5 V. According to its measured results, the IRRs for the E-AISOIRM and the E-Amp-AISOIRM are 20.84 dB and 22.28 dB, respectively. Meanwhile, the measured IRRs for the F-AISOIRM and the F-Amp- AISOIRM are 21.72 dB and 21.52 dB, respectively. Generally, comparing between both the topologies, the E-Topology is preferred due to its much stable RF phase distribution, which thereon yields a much robust system. This is because the 0o RF phase division from the E-shaped antenna is determined by the symmetric geometry of its antenna structure. In converse, the 90o RF phase division of the F-shaped antenna depends on the exactness of its geometrical dimensions and the positions of its feed points instead. Hence, the RF phase of the F-shaped antenna is much sensitive to distortion than the RF phase of the E-shaped antenna. In overall, the AISOIRM architecture is able to perform image rejection with less external injection and more on self-operation through internal mechanism that contributes to more compact design. Therefore its miniaturized size is well suitable for wireless RF applications

Millimeter and Sub-Millimeter Wave Integrated Active Frequency Down-Converters

In recent years, the increasing amount of data transmission, the need for automotive radars, and standoff imaging for security applications are the main factors that accelerate research in the millimeter and sub-millimeter wave frequency ranges. The semiconductor industries have continuously developed their processes, which have opened up opportunities for manufacturing monolithically integrated circuits up to a few hundred GHz, based on transistor technologies. In this thesis, a 100 nm GaAs mHEMT technology, a 250 nm InP DHBT technology, and a 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS technology, which show a typical ft / fmax of 200/300 GHz, 375/650 GHz, and 250/400 GHz, respectively, are verified for analog circuit design. In the above mentioned applications, the frequency mixer is one of the most important components. Consequently, a study of millimeter/submillimeter wave mixers is important for the choice of technology and topology. Aiming for either the next generation of high-speed communication or standoff imaging applications, different mixer topologies are studied, designed and fabricated as candidates for further integration in receivers. The presented mixer topologies include the self-oscillating mixer, the resistive FET mixer, the Gilbert mixer, and the transconductance mixer. All these topologies have been realized in given technologies, and cover the frequencies around ~145 GHz, ~220 GHz, and ~340 GHz. The designed 340 GHz Gilbert mixer with IF buffer amplifier and on-chip patch array antenna demonstrated the first fully integrated receiver in HBT technology at such high frequencies as well as a reasonable noise figure of 17 dB. A novel 110~170 GHz transconductance mixer is characterized in ×1, ×2, ×3, and ×4 harmonic mixing modes, which allows for flexibility in the overall system design. Apart from the mixer designs, a transceiver, which operates as an amplifier for transmitting and simultaneously as a down-converting mixer for receiving, is designed for the frequency range of 110~170 GHz, aiming for sub-cm resolution in multipixel standoff imaging systems. It is successfully demonstrated in a FMCW radar setup for distance measurements

CMOS Signal Synthesizers for Emerging RF-to-Optical Applications

The need for clean and powerful signal generation is ubiquitous, with applications spanning the spectrum from RF to mm-Wave, to into and beyond the terahertz-gap. RF applications including mobile telephony and microprocessors have effectively harnessed mixed-signal integration in CMOS to realize robust on-chip signal sources calibrated against adverse ambient conditions. Combined with low cost and high yield, the CMOS component of hand-held devices costs a few cents per part per million parts. This low cost, and integrated digital processing, make CMOS an attractive option for applications like high-resolution imaging and ranging, and the emerging 5-G communication space. RADAR techniques when expanded to optical frequencies can enable micrometers of resolution for 3D imaging. These applications, however, impose upto 100x more exacting specifications on power and spectral purity at much higher frequencies than conventional RF synthesizers. This generation of applications will present unconventional challenges for transistor technologies - whether it is to squeeze performance in the conventionally used spectrum, already wrung dry, or signal generation and system design in the relatively emptier mm-Wave to sub-mmWave spectrum, much of the latter falling in the ``Terahertz Gap". Indeed, transistor scaling and innovative device physics leading to new transistor topologies have yielded higher cut-off frequencies in CMOS, though still lagging well behind SiGe and III-V semiconductors. To avoid multimodule solutions with functionality partitioned across different technologies, CMOS must be pushed out of its comfort zone, and technology scaling has to have accompanying breakthroughs in design approaches not only at the system but also at the block level. In this thesis, while not targeting a specific application, we seek to formulate the obstacles in synthesizing high frequency, high power and low noise signals in CMOS and construct a coherent design methodology to address them. Based on this, three novel prototypes to overcome the limiting factors in each case are presented. The first half of this thesis deals with high frequency signal synthesis and power generation in CMOS. Outside the range of frequencies where the transistor has gain, frequency generation necessitates harmonic extraction either as harmonic oscillators or as frequency multipliers. We augment the traditional maximum oscillation frequency metric (fmax), which only accounts for transistor losses, with passive component loss to derive an effective fmax metric. We then present a methodology for building oscillators at this fmax, the Maximum Gain Ring Oscillator. Next, we explore generating large signals beyond fmax through harmonic extraction in multipliers. Applying concepts of waveform shaping, we demonstrate a Power Mixer that engineers transistor nonlinearity by manipulating the amplitudes and relative phase shifts of different device nodes to maximize performance at a specific harmonic beyond device cut-off. The second half proposes a new architecture for an ultra-low noise phase-locked loop (PLL), the Reference-Sampling PLL. In conventional PLLs, a noisy buffer converts the slow, low-noise sine-wave reference signal to a jittery square-wave clock against which the phase of a noisy voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is corrected. We eliminate this reference buffer, and measure phase error by sampling the reference sine-wave with the 50x faster VCO waveform already available on chip, and selecting the relevant sample with voltage proportional to phase error. By avoiding the N-squared multiplication of the high-power reference buffer noise, and directly using voltage-mode phase error to control the VCO, we eliminate several noisy components in the controlling loop for ultra-low integrated jitter for a given power consumption. Further, isolation of the VCO tank from any varying load, unlike other contemporary divider-less PLL architectures, results in an architecture with record performance in the low-noise and low-spur space. We conclude with work that brings together concepts developed for clean, high-power signal generation towards a hybrid CMOS-Optical approach to Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) Light-Detection-And-Ranging (LIDAR). Cost-effective tunable lasers are temperature-sensitive and have nonlinear tuning profiles, rendering precise frequency modulations or 'chirps' untenable. Locking them to an electronic reference through an electro-optic PLL, and electronically calibrating the control signal for nonlinearity and ambient sensitivity, can make such chirps possible. Approaches that build on the body of advances in electrical PLLs to control the performance, and ease the specification on the design of optical systems are proposed. Eventually, we seek to leverage the twin advantages of silicon-intensive integration and low-cost high-yield towards developing a single-chip solution that uses on-chip signal processing and phased arrays to generate precise and robust chirps for an electronically-steerable fine LIDAR beam