TY - GEN
T1 - A high-Q linear CMOS digitally controlled accumulation-mode varactor array for multiband RF circuits
AU - Kim, Sanggil
AU - Im, Donggu
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Electronically tunable capacitors are key elements for tunable and reconfigurable RF circuits. The most popular tunable capacitor topologies in CMOS are the analog varactor and digitally controlled switched capacitor array (SCA). The conventional analog varactor shows a high quality factor (Q-factor) in both the minimum capacitance (Cmin) and the maximum capacitance (Cmax) states with a wide tuning range, but it has a poor linearity performance due to the voltage dependent nonlinear capacitance. In case of the digitally controlled SCA, while it shows a very good linearity, its Q-factor in Cmin state is strongly dependent on the substrate loss by the parasitic junction capacitances between P-well, deep N-well, and P-substrate and the substrate resistance. Especially, if the SCA is implemented in a standard digital CMOS process without deep N-well, it suffers from severe Q-factor degradation in Cmin state at higher frequencies. In order to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the analog varactor and the digitally controlled SCA, the digitally controlled binary-weighted accumulation-mode varactor array (AVA) is proposed. Contrast to the conventional analog varactor tuned by continuous analog voltage, the proposed AVA uses only two states of Cmin and Cmax of the analog varactor by digitally on/off control. Instead of a zero voltage reference, the negative voltage (-VDD) is applied to the gate of the analog varactor in Cmin state in order to maximize the tuning range, power handling capability, and linearity. The total capacitance varies by turning on (+VDD) or off (-VDD) each branch of the proposed AVA. The proposed AVA keeps a high Q-factor in all states even if it is implemented in a standard digital CMOS process without deep N-well, while showing comparable linearity performance in comparison with the conventional SCA. In simulation, Q-factor at 2.4 GHz is greater than 70 over all states and the tuning range is about 3.1.
AB - Electronically tunable capacitors are key elements for tunable and reconfigurable RF circuits. The most popular tunable capacitor topologies in CMOS are the analog varactor and digitally controlled switched capacitor array (SCA). The conventional analog varactor shows a high quality factor (Q-factor) in both the minimum capacitance (Cmin) and the maximum capacitance (Cmax) states with a wide tuning range, but it has a poor linearity performance due to the voltage dependent nonlinear capacitance. In case of the digitally controlled SCA, while it shows a very good linearity, its Q-factor in Cmin state is strongly dependent on the substrate loss by the parasitic junction capacitances between P-well, deep N-well, and P-substrate and the substrate resistance. Especially, if the SCA is implemented in a standard digital CMOS process without deep N-well, it suffers from severe Q-factor degradation in Cmin state at higher frequencies. In order to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the analog varactor and the digitally controlled SCA, the digitally controlled binary-weighted accumulation-mode varactor array (AVA) is proposed. Contrast to the conventional analog varactor tuned by continuous analog voltage, the proposed AVA uses only two states of Cmin and Cmax of the analog varactor by digitally on/off control. Instead of a zero voltage reference, the negative voltage (-VDD) is applied to the gate of the analog varactor in Cmin state in order to maximize the tuning range, power handling capability, and linearity. The total capacitance varies by turning on (+VDD) or off (-VDD) each branch of the proposed AVA. The proposed AVA keeps a high Q-factor in all states even if it is implemented in a standard digital CMOS process without deep N-well, while showing comparable linearity performance in comparison with the conventional SCA. In simulation, Q-factor at 2.4 GHz is greater than 70 over all states and the tuning range is about 3.1.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84947236192
M3 - Conference paper
AN - SCOPUS:84947236192
T3 - Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium
SP - 2805
EP - 2808
BT - PIERS 2015 Prague - Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium, Proceedings
PB - Electromagnetics Academy
ER -