A W-Band Phase-Locked Loop for Millimeter-Wave Applications

Shinwon Kang

EECS Department
University of California, Berkeley
Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2015-25
May 1, 2015

http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2015/EECS-2015-25.pdf

Recently, systems operating in the millimeter-wave frequency bands are demonstrated and realized for many applications. A W-band phase-locked loop (PLL) is designed for a 94GHz medical imaging system. Four popular frequency synthesizer architectures are discussed and compared. The PLL using a fundamental voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is chosen for the synthesizer architecture and realized in 130nm SiGe BiCMOS process. The employed fundamental Colpitts VCO achieves a tuning range from 92.5 to 102.5GHz, an output power of 6dBm, and a phase noise of -124.5dBc/Hz at 10MHz offset. The locking range of the PLL is from 92.7 to 100.2GHz, the phase noise is -102dBc/Hz at 1MHz offset, and reference spurs are not observable. This work also compares the figure-of-merit for millimeter-wave VCOs and discusses the LO distribution for millimeter-wave applications.

Advisor: Ali Niknejad


BibTeX citation:

@mastersthesis{Kang:EECS-2015-25,
    Author = {Kang, Shinwon},
    Title = {A W-Band Phase-Locked Loop for Millimeter-Wave Applications},
    School = {EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley},
    Year = {2015},
    Month = {May},
    URL = {http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2015/EECS-2015-25.html},
    Number = {UCB/EECS-2015-25},
    Abstract = {Recently, systems operating in the millimeter-wave frequency bands are demonstrated and realized for many applications. A W-band phase-locked loop (PLL) is designed for a 94GHz medical imaging system. Four popular frequency synthesizer architectures are discussed and compared. The PLL using a fundamental voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is chosen for the synthesizer architecture and realized in 130nm SiGe BiCMOS process. The employed fundamental Colpitts VCO achieves a tuning range from 92.5 to 102.5GHz, an output power of 6dBm, and a phase noise of -124.5dBc/Hz at 10MHz offset. The locking range of the PLL is from 92.7 to 100.2GHz, the phase noise is -102dBc/Hz at 1MHz offset, and reference spurs are not observable. This work also compares the figure-of-merit for millimeter-wave VCOs and discusses the LO distribution for millimeter-wave applications.}
}

EndNote citation:

%0 Thesis
%A Kang, Shinwon
%T A W-Band Phase-Locked Loop for Millimeter-Wave Applications
%I EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley
%D 2015
%8 May 1
%@ UCB/EECS-2015-25
%U http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2015/EECS-2015-25.html
%F Kang:EECS-2015-25