EERF 6330- RF IC Design

Oscillator Design

Prof. Bhaskar Banerjee

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

Outline

Performance parameter
Basic Principles
Cross-coupled oscillators
Voltage Controlled Oscillators
LC VCOs with Wide Tuning Range
Phase Noise
Design Procedure

Reading: Razavis Book - Chapter 8.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

Performance Parameters: Frequency Range

An RF oscillator must be designed such that its frequency can be varied (tuned)
across a certain range. This range includes two components:
(1) the system specification;
(2) additional margin to cover process and temperature variations and errors due to
modeling inaccuracies.
A direct-conversion transceiver is designed for the 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz wireless bands. If
a single LO must cover both bands, what is the minimum acceptable tuning range?
For the lower band, 4.8 GHz fLO 4.96 GHz. Thus, we require a total tuning range of 4.8 GHz to
5.8 GHz, about 20%. Such a wide tuning range is relatively difficult to achieve in LC oscillators.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

Performance Parameters: Output Voltage Swing & Drive

Capability
The oscillators must produce sufficiently large output swings to ensure nearly
complete switching of the transistors in the subsequent stages.
Furthermore, excessively low output swings exacerbate the effect of the internal
noise of the oscillator.

In addition to the downconversion mixers, the oscillator must also drive a frequency
divider, denoted by a N block.
Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

Performance Parameters: Drive Capability

Typical mixers and dividers exhibit a trade-off between the minimum LO swing with
which they can operate properly and the capacitance that they present at their LO
port.

We can select large LO swings so that VGS1-VGS2 rapidly reaches a large value, turning
off one transistor.
Alternatively, we can employ smaller LO swings but wider transistors so that they
steer their current with a smaller differential input.
To alleviate the loading presented by mixers and dividers and perhaps amplify the
swings, we can follow the LO with a buffer.
Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

Performance Parameters: Phase Noise & Output Waveform

The spectrum of an oscillator in practice deviates from an impulse and is
broadened by the noise of its constituent devices, called phase noise.
Unfortunately, phase noise bears direct trade-offs with the tuning range and power
dissipation of oscillators, making the design more challenging.

Abrupt LO transitions reduce the noise and increase the conversion gain.
Effects such as direct feedthrough are suppressed if the LO signal has a 50% duty
cycle.
Sharp transitions also improve the performance of frequency dividers.
Thus, the ideal LO waveform in most cases is a square wave.

In practice, it is difficult to generate square LO waveforms.

A number of considerations call for differential LO waveforms.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

Performance Parameters: Supply Sensitivity & Power

Dissipation
The frequency of an oscillator may vary with the supply voltage, an undesirable effect
because it translates supply noise to frequency (and phase) noise.

The power drained by the LO and its buffer(s) proves critical in some applications as
it trades with the phase noise and tuning range.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

Feedback View of Oscillators

An oscillator may be viewed as a badly-designed negative-feedback amplifierso
badly designed that it has a zero or negative phase margin.

For the above system to oscillate, must the noise at 1 appear at the input?
No, the noise can be anywhere in the loop. For example, consider the system shown in figure
below, where the noise N appears in the feedback path. Here,

Thus, if the loop transmission,

H1H2H3, approaches -1 at 1, N is
also amplified indefinitely.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

Y/X in the Vicinity of = 1

Derive an expression for Y/X in figure below in the vicinity of = 1 if H(j1) = -1.
We can approximate H(j) by the first two terms in its Taylor series:

Since H(j1) = -1, we have

As expected, Y/X as 0, with a sharpness proportional to dH/d.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

Barkhausens Criteria

For the circuit to reach steady state, the signal returning to A must exactly coincide
with the signal that started at A. We call H(j1) a frequency-dependent phase
shift to distinguish it from the 180 phase due to negative feedback.
Even though the system was originally configured to have negative feedback, H(s) is
so sluggish that it contributes an additional phase shift of 180 at 1, thereby
creating positive feedback at this frequency.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Significance of |H(jw1)| = 1
For a noise component at 1 to build up as it circulates around the loop with
positive feedback, the loop gain must be at least unity.
We call |H(j1)| = 1 the startup condition.

What happens if |H(j1)| > 1 and H(j1) = 180? The growth shown in figure above
still occurs but at a faster rate because the returning waveform is amplified by the
loop.
Note that the closed-loop poles now lie in the right half plane.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Can a Two-Pole System Oscillate? ()

Can a two-pole system oscillate?
Suppose the system exhibits two coincident real poles at p. Figure below (left) shows an
example, where two cascaded common-source stages constitute H(s) and p = (R1C1)-1. This
system cannot satisfy both of Barkhausens criteria because the phase shift associated with
each stage reaches 90 only at = , but |H()| = 0. Figure below (right) plots |H| and H as a
function of frequency, revealing no frequency at which both conditions are met. Thus, the
circuit cannot oscillate.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Can a Two-Pole System Oscillate? ()

Can a two-pole system oscillate?
But, what if both poles are located at the origin? Realized as two ideal integrators in a loop,
such a circuit does oscillate because each integrator contributes a phase shift of -90 at any
nonzero frequency. Shown in figure below (right) are |H| and H for this system.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Ring Oscillator
Other oscillators may begin to oscillate at a frequency at which the loop gain is
higher than unity, thereby experiencing an exponential growth in their output
amplitude.
The growth eventually stops due to the saturating behavior of the amplifier(s) in the
loop.

Each stage operates as an amplifier, leading to an oscillation frequency at which each

inverter contributes a frequency-dependent phase shift of 60.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Example of Voltage Swings ()

The inductively-loaded differential pair shown in figure below is driven by a large input
sinusoid at
Plot the output waveforms and determine the output swing.
With large input swings, M1 and M2 experience complete switching in a short transition time,
injecting nearly square current waveforms into the tanks. Each drain current waveform has an
average of ISS/2 and a peak amplitude of ISS. The first harmonic of the current is multiplied by Rp
whereas higher harmonics are attenuated by the tank selectivity.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Example of Voltage Swings ()

Recall from the Fourier expansion of a square wave of peak amplitude A (with 50% duty cycle)
that the first harmonic exhibits a peak amplitude of (4/)A (slightly greater than A). The peak
single-ended output swing therefore yields a peak differential output swing of

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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One-Port View of Oscillators

An alternative perspective views oscillators as two one-port components, namely, a
lossy resonator and an active circuit that cancels the loss.

If an active circuit replenishes the energy lost in each period, then the oscillation can
be sustained.
In fact, we predict that an active circuit exhibiting an input resistance of -Rp can be
attached across the tank to cancel the effect of Rp.
Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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How Can a Circuit Present a Negative Input Resistance?

The negative resistance varies with frequency.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Connection of Lossy Inductor to Negative-Resistance

Circuit
Since the capacitive component in equation above can become part of the tank, we
simply connect an inductor to the negative-resistance port.

Express the oscillation condition in terms of inductors parallel equivalent resistance,

Rp, rather than RS.
The startup condition:

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Tuned Oscillator
We wish to build a negative-feedback oscillatory system using LC-tuned amplifier stages.

At very low frequencies, L1

dominates the load and

At the resonance frequency

|Vout/Vin| is very small and (Vout/ The phase shift from the
input to the output is thus
Vin) remains around -90
equal to 180
Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

At very high frequencies

|Vout/Vin| dinimishes (Vout/Vin)

approaches +90

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Cascade of Two Tuned Amplifiers in Feedback Loop

Can the previous circuit above oscillate if its input and output are shorted? No.
We recognize that the circuit provides a phase shift of 180 with possibly adequate gain (gmRp)
at 0. We simply need to increase the phase shift to 360 .

Assuming that the circuit above (left) oscillates, plot the voltage waveforms at X and Y.
Wave form is shown above (right). A unique attribute of inductive loads is that they can provide
peak voltages above the supply. The growth of VX and VY ceases when M1 and M2 enter the
triode region for part of the period, reducing the loop gain.
Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Cross-Coupled Oscillator

The oscillator above (left) suffers from poorly-defined bias currents. The circuit to the right is
more robust and can be viewed as an inductively-loaded differential pair with positive feedback.

The voltage swings in the circuit if M1 and M2 experience complete current switching
with abrupt edges, can be given by:

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Above-Supply Swings in Cross-Coupled Oscillator

Each transistor may experience stress under the following conditions:

(1) The drain reaches VDD+Va. The transistor remains off but its drain-gate voltage is
equal to 2Va and its drain-source voltage is greater than 2Va.
(2) The drain falls to VDD - Va while the gate rises to VDD + Va. Thus, the gate-drain
voltage reaches 2Va and the gate-source voltage exceeds 2Va.
Proper choice of Va, ISS, and device dimensions avoids stressing the transistors.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Example of Supply Sensitivity of Cross-Coupled

Oscillator
True or False: the cross-coupled oscillator below exhibits no supply sensitivity if the tail
current source is ideal.

False. The drain-substrate capacitance of each transistor sustains an average voltage equal to
VDD. Thus, supply variations modulate this capacitance and hence the oscillation frequency.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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One-Port View of Cross-Coupled Oscillator

For gm1 = gm2 =gm

For oscillation to occur, the negative resistance must cancel the loss of the tank:

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Three-Point Oscillators
Three different oscillator topologies can be obtained by grounding each of the transistor
terminals. Figures below depict the resulting circuits if the source, the gate, or the drain is (ac)
grounded, respectively.

If C1 = C2, the transistor must provide sufficient transconductance to satisfy

The circuits above may fail to oscillate if the inductor Q is not very high.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Differential Version of Three-Point Oscillators

Another drawback of the circuits shown above is that they produce only single-ended
outputs. It is possible to couple two copies of one oscillator so that they operate
differentially.

If chosen properly, the resistor R1 prohibits common-mode oscillation.

Even with differential outputs, the circuit above may be inferior to the cross-coupled
oscillator previous discussed not only for the more stringent start-up condition but
also because the noise of I1 and I2 directly corrupts the oscillation.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Voltage-Controlled Oscillators: Characteristic

The output frequency varies from 1 to 2 (the required tuning range) as the control
voltage, Vcont, goes from V1 to V2.
The slope of the characteristic, KVCO, is called the gain or sensitivity of the VCO
and expressed in rad/Hz/V.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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VCO Using MOS Varactors

Since it is difficult to vary the inductance electronically, we only vary the capacitance
by means of a varactor.
MOS varactors are more commonly used than pn junctions, especially in low-voltage
design.

First, the varactors are stressed for part of the period if Vcont is near ground and VX (or
VY ) rises significantly above VDD.
Second, only about half of Cmax - Cmin is utilized in the tuning.
Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Oscillator Using Symmetric Inductor

Symmetric spiral inductors excited by differential waveforms exhibit a higher Q than
their single-ended counterparts.

The symmetric inductor above has a value of 2 nH and a Q of 10 at 10 GHz. What is the
minimum required transconductance of M1 and M2 to guarantee start-up?

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Tuning Range Limitations

We make a crude approximation, Cvar << C1, and

If the varactor capacitance varies from Cvar1 to Cvar2, then the tuning range is given by

The tuning range trades with the overall tank Q.

Another limitation on Cvar2 - Cvar1 arises from the available range for the control
voltage of the oscillator, Vcont.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Effect of Varactor Q: Tank Consisting of Lossy Inductor

and Capacitor
A lossy inductor and a lossy capacitor form a parallel tank. Determine the overall Q in
terms of the quality factor of each.
The loss of an inductor or a capacitor can be modeled by a parallel resistance (for a narrow
frequency range). We therefore construct the tank as shown below, where the inductor and
capacitor Qs are respectively given by:

Merging Rp1 and Rp2 yields the overall Q:

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Tank Using Lossy Varactor

Transforming the series combination of Cvar and Rvar to a parallel combination

The Q associated with C1+Cvar is equal to

The overall tank Q is therefore given by

Equation above can be generalized if the tank consists of an ideal capacitor, C1, and lossy
capacitors, C2-Cn, that exhibit a series resistance of R2-Rn, respectively.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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LC VCOs with Wide Tuning Range: VCOs with

Continuous Tuning
We seek oscillator topologies that allow both positive and negative (average) voltages
across the varactors, utilizing almost the entire range from Cmin to Cmax.

The CM level is simply given by the gate-source voltage of a diode-connected transistor

carrying a current of IDD/2.

We select the transistor dimensions such that the CM level is approximately equal to VDD/2.
Consequently, as Vcont varies from 0 to VDD, the gate-source voltage of the varactors, VGS,var,
goes from +VDD/2 to VDD/2,
Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Output CM Dependence on Bias Current

The tail or top bias current in the above oscillators is changed by I. Determine the
change in the voltage across the varactors.

Each inductor contains a small low-frequency resistance, rs . If ISS changes by I, the output CM
level changes by VCM = (I/2)rs, and so does the voltage across each varactor. In the top-biased
circuit, on the other hand, a change of I flows through two diode-connected transistors,
producing an output CM change of VCM = (I/2)(1/gm). Since 1/gm is typically in the range of a
few hundred ohms, the top-biased topology suffers from a much higher varactor voltage
modulation.

What is the change in the oscillation frequency in the above example?

Since a CM change at X and Y is indistinguishable from a change in Vcont, we have

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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VCO Using Capacitor Coupling to Varactors

In order to avoid varactor modulation due to the noise of the bias current source, we
return to the tail-biased topology but employ ac coupling between the varactors and
the core so as to allow positive and negative voltages across the varactors.

The principal drawback of the above circuit stems from the parasitics of the coupling
capacitors.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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VCO Using NMOS and PMOS Cross-Coupled Pairs

The circuit can be viewed as two back-to-back CMOS inverters, except that the
sources of the NMOS devices are tied to a tail current, or as a cross-coupled NMOS
pair and a cross-coupled PMOS pair sharing the same bias current.
Proper choice of device dimensions and ISS can yield a CM level at X and Y around
VDD/2, thereby maximizing the tuning range.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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VCO Using NMOS and PMOS Cross-Coupled Pairs: the

Voltage Swing Advantage
An important advantage of the above topology over those previous discussed is that
it produces twice the voltage swing for a given bias current and inductor design.

The current in each tank swings between +ISS and -ISS whereas in previous topologies
it swings between ISS and zero. The output voltage swing is therefore doubled.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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VCO Using NMOS and PMOS Cross-Coupled Pairs:

Drawbacks
First, for |VGS3|+VGS1+VISS to be equal to VDD, the PMOS transistors must typically be
quite wide, contributing significant capacitance and limiting the tuning range.
Second, the noise current of the bias current source modulates the output CM level
and hence the capacitance of the varactors, producing frequency and phase noise.

Can we remove the noise of the tail current source by simply eliminating it? Explain the
pros and cons of such a topology.
The circuit indeed avoids frequency modulation due to
the tail current noise. Moreover, it saves the voltage
headroom associated with the tail current source.
However, the circuit is now very sensitive to the supply
voltage. For example, a voltage regulator providing VDD
may exhibit significant flicker noise, thus modulating
the frequency (by modulating the CM level).
Furthermore, the bias current of the circuit varies
considerably with process and temperature.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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Amplitude Variation with Frequency Tuning

In addition to the narrow varactor capacitance range, another factor that limits the
useful tuning range is the variation of the oscillation amplitude.
As the capacitance attached to the tank increases, the amplitude tends to decrease.

Suppose the tank inductor exhibits only a series resistance, RS

Thus, Rp falls in proportion to 2 as more capacitance is presented to the tank.

Bhaskar Banerjee, EERF 6330, Sp2013, UTD

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