Magnetically decoupled concentric coils structure for area optimized high performance lc vcos

A voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) circuit, comprising:

• a VCO tuning circuit comprising a primary inductive coil, wherein the VCO tuning circuit is configured to generate a VCO output signal at a first resonance frequency;
• and
• a second harmonic filter circuit comprising a secondary inductive coil, wherein the second harmonic filter circuit is coupled to the VCO tuning circuit and wherein the second harmonic filter circuit is configured to resonate at a frequency that is a second harmonic of the first resonance frequency, in order to filter a common mode noise associated with the VCO tuning circuit;
• wherein the primary inductive coil associated with the VCO tuning circuit and the secondary inductive coil associated with the second harmonic filter circuit are concentrically arranged with respect to one another, and wherein the primary inductive coil associated with the VCO tuning circuit and the secondary inductive coil associated with the second harmonic filter circuit are magnetically decoupled with respect to one another.

A method for a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) circuit, comprising:

• generating a VCO output signal at a first resonance frequency at a VCO tuning circuit, wherein the VCO tuning circuit comprises a primary inductive coil;
• and
• filtering a common mode noise associated with the VCO tuning circuit at a filter circuit coupled to the VCO tuning circuit, wherein the filter circuit comprises a secondary inductive coil and wherein the filter circuit is configured to resonate at a second, different, resonance frequency;
• wherein the primary inductive coil associated with the VCO tuning circuit and the secondary inductive coil associated with the filter circuit are concentrically arranged with respect to one another, and wherein the primary inductive coil associated with the VCO tuning circuit and the secondary inductive coil associated with the filter circuit are magnetically decoupled with respect to one another.