Abstract—This paper presents a new physical theory of oscillator phase noise. Built around the concept of phase diffusion, this work bridges the fundamental physics of noise and existing oscillator phase-noise theories. The virtual damping of an ensemble of oscillators is introduced as a measure of phase noise. The explanation of linewidth compression through virtual damping provides a unified view of resonators and oscillators. The direct correspondence between phase noise and the Einstein relation is demonstrated, which reveals the underlying physics of phase noise. The validity of the new approach is confirmed by consistent experimental agreement. Index Terms—Analog integrated circuits, LC oscillators, oscillators, phase noise, radio-frequency (RF) circuits, resonators, ring oscillators. I.

Abstract—This paper presents an improved technique for single-ended to differential conversion that allows for the use of single-ended CMOS ring oscillators in an otherwise fully differential integrated circuit environment. An interpolating resistor network is used to derive a fully differential representation of the single-ended voltage-controlled-oscillator (VCO) signal. The technique preserves the fundamental noise performance of singleended ring oscillators in the presence of supply and substrate interference. Experimental results in a 0.35- m CMOS process show the applicability of this technique at the VCO speeds of up to 1.3 GHz. Index Terms—Jitter, phase noise, power-supply interference, power-supply noise, single-ended to differential conversion, substrate noise, voltage-controlled oscillator. I.

Abstract—The output of many oscillatory systems can be approximated by a stochastic square-wave signal with noise-free amplitude and Gaussian-distributed jitter. We present an analytical treatment of the phase noise of this signal with white and Lorentzian jitter spectra. With a white jitter spectrum, the phase noise is nearly Lorentzian around each harmonic. With a Lorentzian jitter spectrum, it is a sum of several Lorentzian spectra, a summation that has a I R shape at far-out frequencies. With a combination of the two, it has I R and I P shapes at close-in and far-out frequencies, respectively. In all cases, the phase noise at the center frequency and the total signal power are both finite. These findings will improve our understanding of phase noise and will facilitate the calculation of phase noise using time- domain jitter analysis. Index Terms—Analytical formulation, frequency stability, oscillator noise, phase jitter, phase noise. I.

Abstract—A new fabrication methodology that allows self-alignment of a micromechanical structure to its anchor(s) has been used to achieve vibrating radial-contour mode polysilicon micromechanical disk resonators with resonance frequencies up to 1.156 GHz and measured Q’s at this frequency>2,650 in both vacuum and air. In addition, a 734.6-MHz version has been demonstrated with Q’s of 7,890 and 5,160 in vacuum and air, respectively. For these resonators, self-alignment of the stem to exactly the center of the disk it supports allows balancing of the resonator far superior to that achieved by previous versions (in which separate masks were used to define the disk and stem), allowing the present devices to retain high Q while achieving frequencies in the gigahertz range for the first time. In addition to providing details on the fabrication process, testing techniques, and experimental results, this paper formulates an equivalent electrical circuit model that accurately predicts the performance of these disk resonators. I.

In this paper we propose new oscillator architecture (VCO2) and we compare it with a simple oscillator (VCO1). We describe the design and implementation of the differential LC-VCO for wireless applications. In this work we develop an analytical framework for determining the best VCO for a high-frequency synthesizer design based on the constraints of the application. We show methods for reducing the phase noise in LC-VCO. We describe the optimization of phase noise performance. We examine the effect of the choice of MOS varactor on the performance of a CMOS negative resistance oscillator. The three most common MOS varactor structures (inversion, accumulation, and gated varactor) are well studied. The design of both VCOs was implemented in a standard 0.35μm CMOS process. The VCO 2 is utilized in this study because of its low phase noise. It exhibits a 1.9 GHz frequency at 2 V supply voltage. Phase-noise measurements show a phase-noise of about-90 dBc/Hz at 1MHz from the carrier. Key words: VCO, RF, phase noise, varactor and inductance.

discussion and analysis of the start-up and steady-state oscillation conditions for transistor LC oscillators was given, with emphasis on CMOS devices. Part II2 presented both linear and nonlinear phase noise models for parallel feedback and negative resistance oscillators. Part III describes a new impulse response model for phase noise, which became popular recently. It specifies the contribution of the noise components located near integer multiples of the oscillation frequency in terms of waveform properties and circuit parameters. 3,4 The impulse response model for the oscillator phase noise, which has become popular recently, is explained based on a well-known phase plane approach. By using this nonlinear approach, it is impossible to derive an explicit relationship between the oscillator stability conditions, amplitude-to-phase conversion and phase noise power density, unlike using the Kurokawa approach. However, such an approach, based on the inherent time-varying nature of the oscillator, provides an important design insight by identifying and quantifying the major sources of phase noise degradation. The derivation of the expression for excess phase was based on postulating the unit impulse response as a function of the oscillator waveform. The relationship between excess phase and the circuit parameters, however, can be explicitly derived using a well-known phase plane approach. 5 IMPULSE RESPONSE NOISE MODEL

- Digital latches < 10 GHz

Abstract—We report on the characterization of low-frequency noise in fully depleted (FD) double-gate p-channel FinFETs. While the average noise follows a I dependence, considerable device-to-device variations in noise level are observed due to the statistical fluctuation of the number of oxide traps involved. We found that the low-frequency noise in poly-Si-gated p-FinFETs is mainly governed by the carrier number fluctuation with correlated mobility fluctuation. The low-frequency noise characteristics indicate that the FinFET device can be a promising candidate for analog and RF applications. Index Terms—Double-gate, FinFET, low-frequency noise, metal gate, Molybdenum, silicon-on-insulator (SOI), ultrathin body.

I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. I authorize the University of Waterloo to lend this thesis to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research.

Phase noise from radio frequency (RF) oscillators is one of the major limiting factors affecting communication system performance. Phase noise directly effects short-term frequency stability, Bit-Error-Rate (BER), and phase-locked loop adjacent-channel interference.