A Ku-Band Fractional-N Frequency Synthesizer with Adaptive Loop Bandwidth Control

This paper presents a Ku-band fractional-N frequency synthesizer with adaptive loop bandwidth control (ALBC) to speed up the lock settling process and meanwhile ensure better phase noise and spur performance. The theoretical analysis and circuits implementation are discussed in detail. Other key modules of the frequency synthesizer such as broadband voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with auto frequency calibration (AFC) and programable frequency divider/charge pump/loop filter are designed for integrity and flexible configuration. The proposed frequency synthesizer is fabricated in 0.13 $\mathsf{\mu }$m CMOS technology occupying 1.14 × 1.18 mm${}^2$ area including ESD/IOs and pads, and the area of the ALBC is only 55 × 76 $\mathsf{\mu }$m${}^2$. The out frequency can cover from 11.37 GHz to 14.8 GHz with a frequency tuning range (FTR) of 26.2%. The phase noise is −112.5 dBc/Hz @ 1 MHz and −122.4 dBc/Hz @ 3 MHz at 13 GHz carrier frequency. Thanks to the proposed ALBC, the lock-time can be shortened by about 30% from about 36 $\mathsf{\mu }$s to 24 $\mathsf{\mu }$s. The chip area and power consumption of the proposed ALBC technology are slight, but the beneficial effect is significant.