60-GHz CMOS Phase-Locked Loops

by Hammad M. Cheema, Reza Mahmoudi, Arthur H.M. van Roermund

Overview

Abstract This chapter lays the foundation for the work presented in latter chapters. The potential of 60 GHz frequency bands for high data rate wireless transfer is discussed and promising applications are enlisted. Furthermore, the challenges related to 60 GHz IC design are presented and the chapter concludes with an outline of the book. Keywords Wireless communication 60 GHz Millimeter wave integrated circuit design Phase-locked loop CMOS Communication technology has revolutionized our way of living over the last century. Since Marconi’s transatlantic wireless experiment in 1901, there has been tremendous growth in wireless communication evolving from spark-gap telegraphy to today’s mobile phones equipped with Internet access and multimedia capabilities. The omnipresence of wireless communication can be observed in widespread use of cellular telephony, short-range communication through wireless local area networks and personal area networks, wireless sensors and many others. The frequency spectrum from 1 to 6 GHz accommodates the vast majority of current wireless standards and applications. Coupled with the availability of low cost radio frequency (RF) components and mature integrated circuit (IC) techn- ogies, rapid expansion and implementation of these systems is witnessed. The downside of this expansion is the resulting scarcity of available bandwidth and allowable transmit powers. In addition, stringent limitations on spectrum and energy emissions have been enforced by regulatory bodies to avoid interference between different wireless systems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789048192793
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	08/31/2010
Edition description:	2010
Pages:	197
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.36(d)

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Synthesizer System Architecture 11

2.1 IEEE 802.15.3c Channelization 13

2.2 60 GHz Frequency Conversion Techniques 14

2.3 Proposed PLL Architecture: Flexible, Reusable, Multi-frequency 17

2.3.1 Utilization in WiComm Project 18

2.4 System Analysis and Design 18

2.4.1 Phase-Lock Loop Basics 19

2.4.2 Frequency Planning 21

2.4.3 Synthesizer Parameters 22

2.5 System Simulations 28

2.6 Target Specifications 32

2.7 Summary 33

3 Layout and Measuremetns at mm-Wave Frequencies 35

3.1 Layout Problems and Solutions 36

3.1.1 Impact of Parasitics 37

3.1.2 Mismatch Due to Layout Asymmetry and Device Orientation 41

3.1.3 Substrate Losses 42

3.1.4 Cross Talk Shielding and Grounding 44

3.2 Measurement Setups 48

3.2.1 Dedicated Instrumentation 49

3.2.2 Calibration and De-embedding 51

3.2.3 Stability and Repeatability 54

3.3 Conclusions 55

4 Design of High Frequency Components 57

4.1 Prescaler 59

4.1.1 Overview and Comparison of Prescaler Architectures 60

4.1.2 35 GHz Static Frequency Divider 69

4.1.3 40 GHz Divide-by-2 ILFD 78

4.1.4 60 GHz Divide-by-3 ILFD 88

4.1.5 Monolithic Transformer Design and Measurement 95

4.1.6 Dual-Mode (Divide-by-2 and Divide-by-3) ILFD 97

4.1.7 ILFD figure-of-Merit (FOM) 104

4.1.8 Summary 106

4.2 Voltage Controlled Oscillator 106

4.2.1 Overview of VCO Architectures 107

4.2.2 Theoretical Analysis of LC-VCOs 111

4.2.3 40 GHz LC VCO 115

4.2.4 60 GHz Actively Coupled I-Q VCO 123

4.2.5 60 GHz Transformer Coupled I-Q VCO 129

4.2.6 Dual-Band VCO for 40 and 60 GHz 137

4.3 Synthesizer Front-Ends 140

4.3.1 40 GHz VCO and Divide-by-2 ILFD 141

4.3.2 60 GHz VCO and Divide-by-3 ILFD 146

4.4 Conclusions 148

5 Design of Low Frequency Components 151

5.1 Feedback Division 152

5.1.1 CML Based Divider Chain 152

5.1.2 Mixer Based Division 157

5.2 Phase-Frequency Detector, Charge-Pump and Loop Filter 160

5.3 Conclusions 164

6 Synthesizer Integration 165

6.1 Synthesizer for 60 GHz Sliding-IF Frequency Conversion 166

6.1.1 Comparison to Target Specifications 174

6.2 Synthesizer with Down-Conversion Mixer in Feedback Loop 175

6.3 Dual-Mode Synthesizer 177

6.4 Conclusions 180

7 Conclusions 183

Appendix 185

Appendix A 185

A Travelling Wave Divider Simulation Results 185

Appendix B 186

B LC-VCOs Theory 186

References 191