On the Design of a High-Performance mm-Wave VCO With Switchable Triple-Coupled Transformer

In this article, we present a circuit technique to design a wide tuning range (TR) voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). The employed technique extends the TR with a minimal adverse effect on the phase noise (PN). In this context, a switchable triple-coupled transformer, implemented utilizing the topmost three metal layers of the process, is proposed to achieve a wide TR and a low PN. In the propos...