Analysis and Design

Of
Dual mode CMOS LC-VCOs
Project Report

Submitted in the partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the award of the degree of

MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY
in
VLSI DESIGN
By
BHAVANIGARI VENKATA HARISH BABU

Roll no: 31911209

Under the esteemed guidance of

Dr. M.P.R PRASAD
Assistant Professor, Department of EE

DEPARTMENT OF VLSI DESIGN & EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
(INSTITUTE OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE)
KURUSHETRA–136119.
HARYANA
2019 – 2020
 NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
(INSTITUTE OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE)
KURUSHETRA– 136119.
HARYANA

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project report entitled

" ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF DUAL MODE CMOS

LC- VCOs"
is being submitted by

BHAVANIGARI VENKATA HARISH BABU 31911209

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master of Technology degree in
VLSI design to National Institute of Technology , Kurukshetra (Haryana). This record is a
bona fide work carried out by them under our guidance and supervision. The results
embodied in the report have not been submitted to any other University or Institution for
the award of any degree or diploma.

Project Supervisor

Dr. M.P.R PRASAD

Assistant Professor
Department of EE
Tentative Project title:
Analysis and Design of Dual mode CMOS LC-VCOs.

Overview and Scope of the Project:

In this project, we present a nonlinear analysis of dual
mode VCOs which is entirely based on the analytical approach of the describing function
technique. Dual mode has a wide tunable range of frequencies.

This dissertation has alert one of the most enabling

components, i.e. the frequency synthesizer. But fully-integrated LC VCOs are unadventurously
constrained to narrowband applications; we encompass introduced techniques that reliably
pull out their control to wideband/multiband applications. Consequently, a VCO can be used
for frequency modulation (FM) or phase modulation (PM) by applying a modulating signal to
the control input. A VCO is also an integral part of a phase-locked loop.

Literature Survey:
Today's integrated wireless systems that support multiple
standards at several frequency bands rely on the possibility of realizing voltage controlled
oscillators (VCOs) capable to generate signals at two or more frequencies to cover multiple
frequency bands, and meet several stringent requirements.
The proposed topologies have been reviewed in [1]–[3].The
generation of more frequencies of oscillation goes beyond the capability of conventional LC-
VCOs with a single LC-tank, which are systems with one degree of freedom, and is only
possible in self-oscillating circuits with at least two degrees of freedom,i.e., having a linear
part at least of the fourth order.
Multi-mode LC-VCOs are made using at least a double-tuned
transformer [1] or a fourth-order LC circuit achieved with a center-tapped inductor [4], or two
series connected LC-tanks [5]. With the above minimal realizations of the higher-order LC
resonant circuit, dual-band VCOs were obtained in [1]–[8], while VCOs of order greater than
fourth were recently demonstrated in [3].
The presented analysis, focused on the oscillation modes of
practical interest for RF circuit designers [1]–[8], significantly improves the results in [1]–[8],
as it enables to predict the circuit behavior through simple closed-form expressions providing
useful design insights. The theoretical results found are validated by numerical simulations
and measurements on a circuit prototype. The e-simulation tool is used for designing the
circuit.
Project work's details:
The linear fourth order dual resonant circuit is shown in the figure1,
the circuit represents the basic ac equivalent circuit of one-port dual-mode VCOs. The double-
resonant tank is usually realized by a center-tapped on-chip spiral inductor, and exploiting the
parasitic capacitances of nodes. L1 and L2 are the inductances of the two partial inductors,
whose respective losses are schematized by the series resistances R1 and R2.

Figure 1: Linear fourth order dual resonant circuit.

The figure 2 shows the dual mode CMOS LC VCO oscillator circuit.
1 1
w1  w2 
L1C1 L2C2
and are the frequencies of first cell and second cell respectively,
which are the upper and lower cutoff frequencies.

Figure 2: Circuit diagram of dual mode CMOS LC-VCOs

Work Completed till date:

 Learning and understanding the e-Simulation EDA tool.

 Designing the circuit for a tunable frequency range.
 Damping oscillations at the output is shown in figure 4.

Figure 3: Practically Connected Circuit

 Figure 4: Oscillations observed at the output node.

Remaining work to be done:

 Frequency response of the circuit.

 High frequency analysis of the circuit.
References :

[1] S. Rong and H. C. Luong, “Analysis and design of transformer-based dual-band VCO for
software-defined radios,” IEEE Trans. CircuitsSyst. I, Reg. Papers, vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 449–462,
Mar. 2012.
[2] X. Yu, A. El-Gouhary, and N. M. Neihart, “A Transformer-based dual coupled triple-mode
CMOS LCVCO,”IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I,Reg. Papers, vol. 62, no.9, pp. 2059–2070, Mar. 2014.
[3] Z. Safarian and H. Hashemi, “Wideband multi-mode CMOS VCO design using coupled
inductors,” IEEE Trans.Circuits Syst. I, Reg. Papers, vol. 56, no. 8, pp. 1830–1843,
Aug. 2009.
[4] F. Tzeng, D. Pi, A. Safarian, and P. Heydari,“Theoretical analysis ofnovel multi-order LC
oscillators,”IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. II, Exp.Briefs, vol. 54, no. 3, pp.2 87–291, Mar. 2007.
[5] A. Goel and H. Hashemi, “Frequency switching in dual resonance oscillators, ”IEEE J. Solid-
State Circuits, vol. 42,pp. 571–582, 2007.
[6] N. T. Tchamov, S. S. Broussev, I. S. Uzunovand, and K.K. Rantala,“Dual-band LC VCO
architecture with a fourth order resonator,” IEEETrans. Circuits Syst. II, Exp. Briefs, vol. 54, pp.
277–281, Mar. 2007.
[7] G. Li and E. Afshari, “A distributed dual-band LC oscillator based onmode switching,” IEEE
Trans. Microw.Theory Tech., vol. 59, no. 1,pp. 99–107, Jan. 2011.
[8] S. L. Liu, K. H. Chen, and A. Chin, “A dual-resonant mode 10/22-GHzVCO with a novel
inductive switching approach,” IEEE Trans. Microw.Theory Tech., vol. 60, no.7, pp. 2165–2177,
Jul. 2012.
[9] FOSSEE Fellowship 2020 EDA Tool manual on Cloud by IIT Bombay.