Analysis and Design of Wideband LC VCOs

Analysis and Design of Wideband LC VCOs by Axel Dominique Berny Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences University of California, Berkeley Professor Robert G. Meyer, Co-chair Professor Ali M. Niknejad, Co-chair The growing demand for higher data transfer rates and lower power consumption has had a major impact on the design of RF communication systems. In both wireless and wireline applications, this has been achieved using more spectrally efficient modulations and/or wider channel bandwidth in combination with engineering techniques to lower power and fabrication costs. Furthermore, as communication standards evolve and new applications are created, systems not only have to cope with a more crowded spectrum, they must also support a larger number of legacy standards for reasons of backward compatibility. This has resulted in a trend promoting more wideband and spectrally adaptive devices. One of the most critical components in modern communication devices is the VCO.