An Ultra-Low Phase Noise Class-F 2 CMOS Oscillator With 191 dBc/Hz FoM and Long-Term Reliability

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a new class of operation of an RF oscillator that minimizes its phase noise. The main idea is to enforce a clipped voltage waveform around the LC tank by increasing the second-harmonic of fundamental oscillation voltage through an additional impedance peak, thus giving rise to a class-F 2 operation. As a result, the noise contribution of the tail current transistor on the total phase noise can be significantly decreased without sacrificing the oscillator's voltage and current efficiencies. Furthermore, its special impulse sensitivity function (ISF) reduces the phase sensitivity to thermal circuit noise. The prototype of the class-F 2 oscillator is implemented in standard TSMC 65 nm CMOS occupying 0.2 mm 2 . It draws 32-38 mA from 1.3 V supply. Its tuning range is 19% covering 7.2-8.8 GHz. It exhibits phase noise of -139 dBc/Hz at 3 MHz offset from 8.7 GHz carrier, translated to an average figure-of-merit of 191 dBc/Hz with less than 2 dB variation across the tuning range. The long term reliability is also investigated with estimated >10 year lifetime.