1 research outputs found
Wideband Low Noise Oscillator suitable for Injection Locking
There is a growing need to design compact and low power transceiver circuits. The
increasingly crowded frequency spectrum leads to increased challenges associated with
transceiver design. In particular, it becomes imperative that the oscillator circuits have a
low phase noise.
RC oscillators have the ability to produce wideband oscillations with reduced area
and low power consumption. However, a serious drawback is its high phase noise, which
leads to poor circuit performance.
To improve the performance of an RC oscillator, it is common for it to be integrated
into a frequency synthesizer. The most common approach of a synthesizer is the Phase-
Locked Loop (PLL). This approach leads to an increase in the area and complexity of the
circuit. Another approach to a synthesizer is an Injection-Locked Oscillator (ILO), which
achieves similar performances to a PLL without the disadvantages referred to above.
In this thesis, an ILO based on an RC oscillator, using a Spin Torque Oscillator (STO)
as a reference generator, is presented. The circuit is implemented in two different Complementary
Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) technologies: 130 nm CMOS and 180
nm CMOS. The STO used as reference has characteristics similar to a nanometric device
developed at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL). In addition,
the ILO operates in a wide frequency band ranging from 100 MHz to 3 GHz, has a power
consumption ranging from 2.94 mW to 6.81 mW for 130 nm CMOS technology, whereas
in 180nm CMOS technology it consumes between 4.86 mW and 13.96 mW.
Thus, the work developed in the course of this thesis serves as proof of concept for the
manufacture of a fully integrated hybrid ILO using the STO technology in conjunction
with CMOS circuits