Researches Of Key Technologies Of Silicon-Based Millimeter-Wave Frequency Sources

Frequency sources are key components for wireless electronic systems,such as communication and radar systems,which play important roles.Silicon-based semiconductors have various advantages such as high integration and low cost,so the frequency source on a silicon substrate has important research value and wide application prospect.It is well known that phase noise,tuning range and miniaturization of the frequency source are critical indexes to restrict system performance.With the development of the communication systems and other wireless systems,higher requirements are proposed on frequency sources.The design of a frequency source on a silicon substrate still faces with many challenges.Thus,the thesis focuses on high performance frequency sources to conduct a more systematic in-depth research.Novel architectures and key technologies such as the varactor-less rotated-phase-tuning oscillator,the mode-switching multi-mode multi-core oscillator,and the cascaded phased array frequency source are proposed.Finally,high performance frequency source chips were developed based on silicon-based CMOS process design.The research work and innovations of this thesis are as follows:1.A varactor-less frequency source based on rotating-phase-tuning technology.Aiming at the design challenge of the traditional phase-tuning oscillator,a varactor-less oscillator based on a cascode structure is proposed.Based on a rotated-phase-tuning technology,by using a parasitic parameter distribution of a common-source common-gate MOS transistor,the phase of the input gate voltage to the output drain current is controlled substantially and freely in Ka-band.In this way,a quadrature oscillator tuned without a varactor is implemented,which eliminates the phase ambiguity problem of the quadrature oscillator in millimeter-wave frequency band and achieves a Ka-band rotating-phase-tuning oscillator for the first time.2.Dual-mode dual-core frequency source based on voltage waveform shaping technology.Aiming at the design challenge of the wideband low phase noise oscillator,a voltage waveform-shaping oscillator based on a dual-mode switching technology is proposed.In conjunction with the requirements of a voltage waveform-shaping technology on a resonator,a multi-peak resonant topology is proposed.By applying a dual-mode switching technology,two multi-peak resonators are coupled with each other and a compact multi-mode resonator is proposed,which achieves the dual-mode voltage waveform-shaping.Finally,it is achieved that the tuning range of 6.92 to 11.9 GHz is greater than 50%,the phase noise is less than-108 d Bc/Hz at a frequency offset of 1 MHz,and the state-of-the-art FoM_T is better than 196 d Bc/Hz.3.Quad-core mode switching frequency source based on multi-mode magnetic coupling resonance technology.Aiming at the design challenge of the tuning range of the millimeter-wave band oscillator,a quad-core mode switching oscillator based on a multi-mode magnetic coupling resonance technology is proposed.A compact four-mode resonator based on magnetic coupling is studied.Under the action of the mode switching switches,mutual coupling of four oscillator cores and free switching of four working modes are achieved.By adopting a structure of a multi-core multi-mode,the phase noise is suppressed,the tuning range is further widened,and the frequency source is miniaturized.Finally,the oscillator achieves a frequency tuning range of 12.1 to 30.0 GHz and the relative bandwidth greater than 90%.4.Cascade injection-locked phased frequency source array.Aiming at the design challenge of architecture and performance of the millimeter-wave phased frequency source array,a cascaded phased frequency source array architecture is proposed based on a frequency-tune-phase technology.The architecture cascades each phased unit off-chip,thereby greatly reducing the area of a chip and increasing the freedom of layout of the phased units.In each phased unit,the frequency-tune-phase function is implemented by using a cascade of an injection-locked phase shifter and frequency tripler.Finally,based on the cascade phase-controlled technology,cascading of a plurality of phase units is implemented off-chip,which avoids power loss of a parallel phased array.The phased frequency source array achieves the frequency output of 21to 24 GHz and the 360°phase shift,wherein a phase error is less than 0.72 degree.