TY - JOUR
T1 - CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator with high-performance MEMS tunable inductor
AU - Chae, Uikyu
AU - Park, Jeongsoo
AU - Kim, Jeong Geun
AU - Yu, Hyun Yong
AU - Cho, Il Joo
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Brain Research Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (NRF-2017M3C7A1028854). Also, this work was supported by the Brain Convergence Research Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (NRF-2019M3E5D2A01063814), Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (NRF-2017M3A9B3061319), the Institute for Basic Science (IBS-R001-D2), and Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) intramural Grant (2E30963, MI).
Funding Information:
The Brain Research Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (NRF-2017M3C7A1028854); The Brain Convergence Research Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (NRF-2019M3E5D2A01063814); Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (NRF-2017M3A9B3061319); the Institute for Basic Science (IBS-R001-D2); Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) intramural Grant (2E30963, MI).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - LC CMOS voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) with tunable inductors are essential for high-performance, multi-band communication systems, such as IoT applications and 5G communication. However, VCOs that use CMOS tunable inductors have difficulty in achieving high RF performance due to the low Q-factor of the inductor. In addition, previously reported CMOS VCOs integrated with MEMS inductors have used CMOS switches for tuning frequency bands, but they also had large signal losses on the switch. Herein, we propose a CMOS VCO that is integrated with a MEMS tunable inductor that tunes the frequency band with three MEMS switches. The proposed MEMS tunable inductor enables us to achieve high RF performance due to the suspended structure, and RF MEMS switches enable lower signal loss than CMOS switches. In this work, we successfully fabricated the proposed CMOS VCO integrated with a MEMS tunable inductor using the flip-chip bonding process, and we measured oscillation frequencies according to the actuation of the three switches. The oscillation powers were measured as − 3.03 dBm @ 1.39 GHz, − 5.80 @ 1.98 GHz, − 7.44 dBm @ 2.81 GHz, and − 8.77 dBm @ 3.68 GHz.
AB - LC CMOS voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) with tunable inductors are essential for high-performance, multi-band communication systems, such as IoT applications and 5G communication. However, VCOs that use CMOS tunable inductors have difficulty in achieving high RF performance due to the low Q-factor of the inductor. In addition, previously reported CMOS VCOs integrated with MEMS inductors have used CMOS switches for tuning frequency bands, but they also had large signal losses on the switch. Herein, we propose a CMOS VCO that is integrated with a MEMS tunable inductor that tunes the frequency band with three MEMS switches. The proposed MEMS tunable inductor enables us to achieve high RF performance due to the suspended structure, and RF MEMS switches enable lower signal loss than CMOS switches. In this work, we successfully fabricated the proposed CMOS VCO integrated with a MEMS tunable inductor using the flip-chip bonding process, and we measured oscillation frequencies according to the actuation of the three switches. The oscillation powers were measured as − 3.03 dBm @ 1.39 GHz, − 5.80 @ 1.98 GHz, − 7.44 dBm @ 2.81 GHz, and − 8.77 dBm @ 3.68 GHz.
KW - CMOS VCO
KW - MEMS tunable inductor
KW - RF MEMS
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119955101&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s40486-021-00140-5
DO - 10.1186/s40486-021-00140-5
M3 - Letter
AN - SCOPUS:85119955101
VL - 9
JO - Micro and Nano Systems Letters
JF - Micro and Nano Systems Letters
SN - 2213-9621
IS - 1
M1 - 13
ER -