2015 年 E98.C 巻 12 号 p. 1179-1186
We present a low-voltage digitally-controlled oscillator (DCO) with the third-order ΔΣ modulator utilized in the medical implant communication service (MICS) frequency band. An optimized DCO core operating in the subthreshold region is designed, based on the gm/ID methodology. Thermometer coder with the dynamic element matching and ΔΣ modulator are implemented for the frequency tuning. High frequency resolution is achieved by using the ΔΣ modulator. The ΔΣ-modulator-based LC-DCO implemented in a 130-nm CMOS technology has achieved the phase noise of -115.3 dBc/Hz at 200 kHz offset frequency with the tuning range of 382 MHz to 412 MHz for the MICS band. It consumes 700 µW from a 0.7-V supply voltage and has a high frequency resolution of 18 kHz.
