• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.198-206
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• 2013

This paper presents a wide band, fine-resolution digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) with an on-chip 3-D solenoid inductor using the 0.13 ${\mu}m$ digital CMOS process. The on-chip solenoid inductor is vertically constructed by using Metal and Via layers with a horizontal scalability. Compared to a spiral inductor, it has the advantage of occupying a small area and this is due to its 3-D structure. To control the frequency of the DCO, active capacitor and active inductor are tuned digitally. To cover the wide tuning range, a three-step coarse tuning scheme is used. In addition, the DCO gain needs to be calibrated digitally to compensate for gain variations. The DCO with solenoid inductor is fabricated in 0.13 ${\mu}m$ process and the die area of the solenoid inductor is 0.013 $mm^2$. The DCO tuning range is about 54 % at 4.1 GHz, and the power consumption is 6.6 mW from a 1.2 V supply voltage. An effective frequency resolution is 0.14 kHz. The measured phase noise of the DCO output at 5.195 GHz is -110.61 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.591-592
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• 2008

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.235-238
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• 2011

In this paper, a novel low phase noise voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) using metamaterial structure and rat race coupler is presented for reducing the phase noise without the reduction of the frequency tuning range. The metamaterial structure has been realized by microstrip square open loop double split ring resonator (SRR). The rat race coupler shows slightly higher transmission compared to a Wilkinson combiner and is, therefore, used instead to improve the performances of VCO. By providing these unique modifications, the proposed push-push VCO has a phase noise of -126.30~-124.83 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz in the tuning range of 5.672~5.800 GHz.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.527-534
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• 2005

We investigate the pulsation characteristics in a multi-section DFB laser which is composed of one DFB section, phase tuning section, and gain section. Multi-section DFB lasers with anti-phase (AP) complex-coupled (CC) DFB structure show wide current ranges of gain and phase tuning sections fer stable pulsations compared to those with in-phase CC DFB structure or index-coupled DFB structure. For multi-section DFB lasers with AP CC DFB structure, the current range of a gain section for stable pulsations increases and the tuning range of the pulsation frequency increases as a coupling strength or a gain coupling coefficient increases Also, the tuning range using the phase variation in a phase tuning section increases. For a fixed coupling strength, the current ranges of gain and phase tuning sections for stable pulsations increase and the tuning range of the pulsation frequency increases as the length of a DFB section increases.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.473-483
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• 2005

In this paper, we propose two LC voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) that improve both phase noise and tuning range. With both 1/f induced low-frequency noise and low-frequency thermal noise around DC or around harmonics suppressed significantly by the employment of a current-current negative feedback (CCNF) loop, the phase noise in the CCNF LC VCO has been improved by about 10 dB at 6 MHz offset compared to the conventional LC VCO. The phase noise of the CCNF VCO was measured as -112 dBc/Hz at 6 MHz offset from 5.5 GHz carrier frequency. Also, we present a bandwidth-enhanced LC VCO whose tuning range has been increased about 250 % by connecting the varactor to the bases of the cross-coupled pair. The phase noise of the bandwidth-enhanced LC-tank VCO has been improved by about 6 dB at 6 MHz offset compared to the conventional LC VCO. The phase noise reduction has been achieved because the DC-decoupling capacitor Cc prevents the output common-mode level from modulating the varactor bias point, and the signal power increases in the LC-tank resonator. The bandwidth-enhanced LC VCO represents a 12 % bandwidth and phase noise of -108 dBc/Hz at 6 MHz offset.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.269-281
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• 2014

In this paper, a systematic design of a low phase noise voltage-tuned dielectric resonator oscillator(VTDRO) using loop group delay is proposed. Designed VTDRO is closed-loop type and consists of a cascade connection of a resonator, phase shifter, and amplifier. Firstly, a reference VTDRO is fabricated and its phase noise and electrical frequency tuning range are measured. Both the phase noise and electrical frequency tuning range depend on the loop group delay. Then, a required value of loop group delay for a new VTDRO with a low phase noise can be systematically computed. In addition, its phase noise and electrical frequency tuning range can be theoretically estimated using those obtained from the measurement of the reference VTDRO. When the loop group delay increases, the phase noise decreases and the electrical frequency tuning range also decreases. The former predominantly depends on the resonator structure. Therefore we propose a systematic design procedure of a resonator with high group delay characteristics. The measured loop group delay of the new VTDRO is about 700 nsec. The measured phase noise of the new VTDRO show a state-of-the-art performance of 154.5 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz frequency offset and electrical frequency tuning range of 448 kHz for a voltage change of 0~10V. The oscillation power is about 4.39 dBm.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.53-58
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• 2018

A novel X-band high speed frequency sweep signal generator based on a tunable optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) incorporating a frequency-swept laser is presented and the theoretical fundamentals of the design are explained. A prototype of the generator with tuning range from 8.8552 GHz to 10.3992 GHz and a fine step about 8 MHz is achieved. The generated radiofrequency signal with a single sideband (SSB) phase noise lower than -100 dBc/Hz@10KHz is experimentally demonstrated within the whole tunable range, without any narrow RF band-pass filters in the loop. And the tuning speed of the frequency sweep signal generator can reach to over 1 GHz/s benefiting from applying a novel dispersion compensation modular instead of several tens of kilometers of optical fiber delay line in the system.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.3 s.22
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• pp.64-72
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• 2005

In this paper, we propose a design method of the millimeter-wave(W-Band) waveguide cavity harmonic voltage controlled oscillator(VCO) using a Gunn diode for the armor sensor. Using the 3-dimensional simulation tool(Ansoft $HFSS^{TM}$), we were able to find the impedance matching point between waveguide and Gunn diode and estimate the oscillation frequency. A varactor diode is used for the frequency tuning, and we find out the equation for the calculation of the tunable frequency range. The designed VCO shows good performances; 17dBm output power at 94GHz center frequency, 520MHz frequency tuning range similar to the estimated value(480MHz).

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.121-126
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• 2012

In this paper, a push-push VCDRO (Voltage Controlled Dielectric Resonator Oscillator) with a modified frequency tuning structure is investigated. The push-push VCDRO designed at 16GHz is manufactured using a LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic) technology to reduce the circuit size. The frequency tuning structure is embedded in intermediate layer of A6 substrate by an advantage of LTCC process. Experimental results show that the fundamental frequency suppression is above 30dBc, the frequency tuning range is 0.43MHz over control voltage of 0 to 12V, and phase noise of push-push VCDRO presents a good performance of -103dBc/Hz at 100KHz offset frequency from carrier.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.83-89
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• 2010

In this paper, we propose a new varactor coupled line structure and design the VCO using the proposed structure. The proposed coupled line structure removes the reflected signals from the varactor diode using an added $\lambda$/4 transmission line. The frequency synthesizers are designed using the PLL technique at Ku-band. The synthesizer using the proposed coupled structure has 38 MHz frequency tuning range and -97 dBc/Hz phase noise characteristic at 100 KHz offset frequency. The measured results show improved tuning range as well as the improved phase noise characteristics compared to the conventional designs.