A15–18.3 GHz Upper Ku-Band LC-VCO Achieving 201 dBc/Hz FoMA in 65-nm CMOS

This paper presents a low phase-noise LC-VCO for upper Ku-band operation using a Gm,eff-boosted core with a triple-coupled stacked transformer and noise-circulation. Fabricated in 65-nm CMOS, it achieves a 15–18.3 GHz (19.8%) tuning range,–114.8 dBc/Hz phase noise at 1 MHz offset, and FoM/FoMT/FoMA of 189.1/195.0/201.0 dBc/Hz. The VCO occupies 0.064 mm2, consumes less than 9 mW from 1 V, and is suited for compact upper-Ku/mmWave synthesizers.