European standard DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial) has already proven its exceptional features, including the possibility to receive broadcast services also with portable devices and even in receivers with a limited mobility such as cars. This paper presents a fully integrated LC voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) in a low cost 0.35 μm SiGe technology for DVB-H standard. To obtain VCO specifications system simulations have been done. The designed VCO is suitable to operate with ZERO and LOW IF receiver architectures. To integrate all the VCO components, it oscillates at double of the frequency band, from 940 to 1724 MHz. In order to sweep the whole frequency range, the tank is composed of an array of switched capacitors together with the varactors. The integrated inductors have been designed by electromagnetic simulations using Momentum(C). Techniques like using a capacitor divider, biasing the transistor for minimum noise and emitter degeneration have been utilized to improve phase noise requirements. The obtained phase noise is -108 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset and the power consumption, including the output buffers, is 28 mW.

Date Published: 10 May 2007
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 6590, VLSI Circuits and Systems III, 65901D (10 May 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.721953

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6590:
VLSI Circuits and Systems III
Valentín de Armas Sosa; Kamran Eshraghian; Félix B. Tobajas, Editor(s)