Design and Characterization of Fully Monolithic Millimeter -Wave Oscillators

Abstract

The choice of foundry process is most often the critical factor when attempting to achieve a given performance at a given cost. It must be recognized that once the minimum performance specifications are met, the solution with the lowest cost will be selected. In current MMIC oscillator research, there is little prediction of the phase noise in the design process. Therefore, the results of past studies have been largely empirical. An empirical study only sets a performance benchmark for a particular device and circuit design. Empirical results in this dissertation show that the phase noise adequate for many proposed systems can be achieved with a low-cost technology such as GaAs metal-semiconductor field effect transistor (MESFET). The results highlight the inextricable linkage of phase noise to both device parameters and circuit design methodology. The prediction of phase noise is accomplished through modeling of low-frequency noise of devices and the use of commercial simulation tools.