Many recent innovationS have presented architectures for CMOS millimeter-wave frequency generators targeting the 60-GHz band. Yet few achieve the tuning required to cover the entire 57-to-66-GHz range of worldwide bands with some margin for process and temperature variations. At Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Burak atli and Mona Mostafa Hella have proposed the use of triple-push oscillators as a combined voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)/divider in a typical millimeter-wave frequency synthesizer.
If it is employed in a phase-locked loop (PLL), the researchers propose that this VCO/ divider will provide a wider tuning range than traditional millimeter-wave PLLs. Using a 206- pH tank inductance, a 55-to-65-GHz tuning range is obtained. Phase noise is -91 dBc/Hz offset 10 MHz from the 63.2-GHz carrier and -95 dBc/Hz offset 10 MHz from the 72.4- GHz carrier. See "Triple-Push Operation for Combined Oscillation/Division Functionality in Millimeter-Wave Frequency Synthesizers," IEEE Journal Of Solid-State Circuits, August 2010, p. 1575.
