Systematic Design of a Voltage Controlled Oscillator using a Layout-Aware Approach

• Author(s): Passos, F. ; Castro Lópes, R. ; Roca, E. ; Fernándes, F. ; Martins, R. ; Lourenço, N. ; Póvoa, R. ; Canelas, A. ; Horta, N.
• Date: 2017
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/54465
• Origin: Escola Superior Náutica Infante D. Henrique
• Document Type: Conference object
• Language: English
• Contributor(s): Repositório Comum

Description

This paper focuses on the systematic design of voltage controlled oscillators (VCO), a commonly used radiofrequency (RF) electronic circuit. RF circuits are among the most difficult analog circuits to design due to its trade-offs and high operation frequencies. At such operation frequencies, layout parasitics and accurate passive component characterization become of upmost importance, causing re-design iterations if they are not considered by the designer. To avoid this problem, and reduce the design time, this paper presents a systematic design of a VCO, entailing layout parasitics and accurate characterization of passive components from early design stages. Results clearly illustrate the benefit of this strategy.