Mikael Hörberg

Low Phase Noise GaN HEMT Oscillators With Excellent Figures of Merit

This letter presents guidelines for the design of low phase noise oscillators in GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology. The design starts from bias-dependent low-frequency (LF) noise measurements. Oscillator topology and bias point are then chosen for operation in regions where LF noise is low. The best LF noise properties are obtained for low drain voltage and current. Thus, the low phase noise can be achieved at low dc power which also means that power normalized phase noise figure of merit (FOM) will be good. Two different oscillators have been designed and measured. A 9.9 GHz common-gate balanced Colpitts oscillator operating in class C presents a phase noise of -136 dBc/Hz@1 MHz. The result is achieved for Vd =6 V and Id = 30 mA, giving FOM = 193 dBc/Hz. A 1.95 GHz negative-resistance oscillator operating in switched mode presents a phase noise of of -149 dBc/Hz@ 1 MHz offset. With drain voltage and current of Vd = 4 V and Id = 100 mA, this oscillator presents FOM = 189 dBc/Hz. To the best of the authors knowledge, these two oscillators present the highest reported FOM for GaN HEMT oscillators.

RF-MEMS Tuned GaN HEMT based Cavity Oscillator for X-band

This letter presents a radio frequency micro-electromechanical systems (RF-MEMS) tuned cavity oscillator for X-band. The active part of the oscillator is implemented in GaN-HEMT MMIC technology. The RF-MEMS-switches are realized on a quartz substrate that is surface mounted on a low loss PCB. The PCB is intruded in an aluminum cavity acting as an electrically moveable wall. For a three-row RF-MEMS setup, a tuning range of 5 % around an oscillation frequency of 10 GHz is demonstrated in measurements. The phase noise is as low as -140 dBc/Hz to -129 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz from the carrier, depending on the configuration of the RF-MEMS.

A GaN HEMT X-band cavity oscillator with electronic gain control

This paper reports on a very low phase-noise GaN HEMT cavity oscillator at 8.5 GHz based on a reflection amplifier with electronic gain control. The gain control functionality is essential in order to control the open loop gain, which is critical for the phase noise performance. A large loop gain forces the oscillator in deep compression, resulting in increased noise conversion and degraded phase noise. On the other hand, a sufficient gain margin is mandatory to ensure satisfaction of the oscillation condition with margin that covers temperature drift and individual spread. The electronic gain control uses varactors to change the output termination of a reflection amplifier. In this way the loop gain can be set independently of the bias point of the active device and the position of the metal cavity. A minimum phase noise of -136 dBc/Hz@ 100 kHz off-set is achieved, which is comparable to what is reached for a mechanically tuned oscillator in the same process.

A MMIC GaN HEMT Voltage-Controlled-Oscillator with High Tuning Linearity and Low Phase Noise

This paper presents a MMIC GaN HEMT Voltage- Controlled-Oscillator (VCO). The VCO is tunable between 6.45-7.55 GHz with good tuning linearity, average output power about 1 dBm, and a good phase noise with little variation over the tuning range. For a bias of Vd /Id = 6 V/33 mA, the measured phase noise is -98 dBc/Hz @ 100 kHz and -132 dBc/Hz @ 1 MHz offset frequencies, respectively. To the authors best knowledge, this is the lowest phase noise reported for a VCO in GaN HEMT technology with comparable oscillation frequency and tuning range. The 1 MHz offset phase noise is also comparable to state-of-the-art GaAs-InGaP HBT VCOs with similar tuning range.

Analysis of a MEMS Tuned Cavity Oscillator on

This paper reports on the analysis of a radio frequency microelectromechanical systems (RF-MEMS) tuned cavity oscillator on

X

X

-Band

-band based on a GaN-HEMT monolithic microwave integrated circuit reflection amplifier. The RF-MEMS-switches are mounted on a low-loss printed circuit board (PCB) intruded in an aluminum cavity that is coupled to a microstrip line connected to the reflection amplifier. This paper investigates the influence of the number of switches as well as their positions with respect to phase noise and tuning range. Vertical and horizontal positions of the switches are varied with target on optimum trade-off between phase noise and total tuning range. For a three-row MEMS-configuration at 1-mm depth from the end cavity wall, a tuning range of 4.9% is measured. The center frequencies are ranging from 9.84 to 10.33 GHz with measured phase noise of −140 to −129 dBc/Hz at 100-kHz offset. A similar three-row MEMS setup at 2.5-mm depth provides a tuning range of 12.3% with measured phase noise of −133 to −123 dBc/Hz at 100-kHz offset.

Does LO Noise Floor Limit Performance in Multi-Gigabit Millimeter-Wave Communication?

Extremely high data rate communication can potentially be achieved by combining high-order modulations and wide bandwidths at millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequencies. However, it has been challenging to practically implement this combination, even if the SNR of the system appears to be sufficiently high. An explanation from a recent theoretical study is that the practical data rates in mm-wave systems are limited by the local oscillator (LO) white phase noise. In this letter, we present an experimental investigation on whether the white noise floor of frequency multiplied LO sources is a major noise contribution to wideband signals. Hardware measurements are performed using multi-gigabit 64 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signals. The measured results show that the transmitter performance degrades as the LO noise floor increases. Hence, the LO noise floor is identified to be one primary limitation for achieving the highest possible data rate in wideband mm-wave systems.