A 77 GHz CMOS requency triplers with subharmonic injection locking technology

In this article, a novel 90-nm gate length CMOS injection-locked frequency tripler that generates the 77 GHz output signal is proposed. The output signal frequency of proposed tripler could be locked precisely by using a one-third frequency local oscillator, which is beneficial for obtaining a wide tuning range and a low-phase-noise performance. In addition, the slow wave elevated-center coplanar waveguide transmission lines were adopted to reduce the chip size. The locked output frequency range is from 77.34 to 80.32 GHz together with a phase noise of -83.24 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset. The 0.81 mm ² tripler (including passives) consumes 6.52 mW DC power under a 1.2 V voltage supply. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 55:434-439, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.27336