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Analysis of high-order sub-harmonically injection-locked oscillators

Part of: EuMW Special issue 2019

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2020

Silvia Hernández ,
Mabel Pontón Open the ORCID record for Mabel Pontón [Opens in a new window] ,
Sergio Sancho  and
Almudena Suárez
Silvia Hernández
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ingeniería de Comunicaciones, Universidad de Cantabria, Spain
Mabel Pontón*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ingeniería de Comunicaciones, Universidad de Cantabria, Spain
Sergio Sancho
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ingeniería de Comunicaciones, Universidad de Cantabria, Spain
Almudena Suárez
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ingeniería de Comunicaciones, Universidad de Cantabria, Spain
*
Author for correspondence: Mabel Pontón, E-mail: mabel.ponton@unican.es
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Abstract

High-order sub-harmonically injection-locked oscillators have recently been proposed for low phase-noise frequency generation, with carrier-selection capabilities. Though excellent experimental behavior has been demonstrated, the analysis/simulation of these circuits is demanding, due to the high ratio between the oscillation frequency and the frequency of the input source. This work provides an analysis methodology that covers the main aspects of the circuit behavior, including the detection of the locking bands and the prediction of the phase-noise spectral density. Initially, the oscillator in the presence of a multi-harmonic input source is described with a reduced-order envelope-domain formulation, at the oscillation frequency, based on an oscillator-admittance function extracted from harmonic-balance simulations. This allows deriving an expression for the oscillation phase shift with respect to the input source, and the average of this phase shift is shown to evolve continuously in the distinct synchronization bands obtained when varying a tuning voltage. This property can be used to detect the locking bands in circuit-level envelope-domain simulations, which, as shown here, can be done through different Fourier decompositions and sampling rates. The phase noise of the high-order sub-harmonic injection-locked oscillator under an arbitrary periodic input waveform is investigated in detail. The frequency response to the noise sources is described with a semi-analytical formulation, relying on the oscillator-admittance function in injection-locked conditions. The input noise is derived from the timing jitter of the injection source and the phase-noise response is shown to exhibit a low-pass characteristic, which initially follows the up-converted input noise and then the oscillator own noise sources. A method is proposed to identify the key parameters of the derived phase-noise spectrum from envelope-domain simulations. The various analysis methodologies have been applied to a prototype at 2.7 GHz at the sub-harmonic order N = 30 which has been manufactured and measured.

Keywords

injection lockingoscillatorenvelope transient
Type
Research Paper
Information
International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies , Volume 12 , Special Issue 8: Special Issue EuMW 2019. Part II , October 2020 , pp. 695 - 706
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and the European Microwave Association 2020

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