Design of low-power CMOS VCO based on current-reused topology with center-tapped inductor bias

ABSTRACT This article presents a completely integrated 1.1 V 5.15 GHz CMOS voltage‐controlled oscillator (VCO) with self‐body‐biased technique to save the power consumption. MOS varactors are used to maintain a wide tuning range. The VCO was measured with a 1.1 V supply voltage and the tuning range of 16% from 5.15 to 6.05 GHz. The measurement of phase noise is −114.63 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from the carrier frequency of 5.15 GHz. The VCO core power dissipation is 0.8 mW. The figure‐of‐merit is −189.8 dBc/Hz. The VCO circuit was implemented by TSMC 0.18 μm CMOS process. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 56:1587–1590, 2014