Back to results
US 6,396,359 B1Granted
Tunable, distributed, voltage-controlled oscillator
AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
InventorsSeyed-Ali Hajimiri, Hui Wu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
InventorsSeyed-Ali Hajimiri, Hui Wu
Estimating the term…
Techniques and structures for tuning integrated, distributed voltage-controlled oscillators (DVCO's) across a wide microwave frequency range are disclosed. One type of DVCO implements a tuning circuit that includes a pair of interconnected amplifying transistors and a current source connected to the transistors, such that a differential voltage input to the circuit adjusts the current to each transistor and effectively adjusts the “electrical length” of one of the transmission lines on which the output frequency is oscillating. This, in turn, adjusts the time delay and thus frequency of the signal propagating on the lines across a wide frequency band. This technique is called “current-steering.” In a preferred embodiment, the tuning circuit is balanced with a complementary tuning circuit to effectively adjust the electrical length of the second transmission line in the oscillator. In another technique that provides for more coarse, but wider range, broadband frequency tuning, the time delay, and thus, frequency, of the DVCO is adjustable by varying the capacitive loading on the transmission lines, by introducing a coupling capacitor between the transmission lines and tuning the intrinsic capacitances of the gain transistors with a dc bias input.
An integrated, distributed voltage controlled oscillator (DVCO) that is tunable across a wide frequency range, comprising:
An integrated, distributed voltage-controlled oscillator (“DVCO”) that is tunable across a wide frequency range, comprising:
An integrated, distributed, voltage-controlled oscillator (“DVCO”) that is tunable across a wide frequency range, comprising:
An integrated, distributed voltage-controlled oscillator (“DVCO”) that is tunable across a wide frequency range, comprising:
A method of tuning a distributed, voltage-controlled oscillator across a wide frequency range, including an input transmission line with a loaded characteristic impedance having an input, and an output that is terminated by a wave-absorbing termination that matches the loaded characteristic impedance of the input line and biased with a dc voltage, an output transmission line with a loaded characteristic impedance having an input that is terminated by a wave-absorbing termination that matches the impedance of the output transmission line and biased with a dc biasing voltage, and an output that is connected to the input of the input transmission line, and a first three-terminal active device with a transconductance, gm, having a control input terminal connected to the input transmission line, an output terminal connected to the output transmission line and a current input terminal, the method including:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.