A Dual-Mode CMOS VCO Using Hybridized Localized Surface Plasmon Resonator

An on-chip mode-switchable hybridized localized surface plasmon resonator (HLSPR) is proposed to realize a dual-mode voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). Different from conventional localized surface plasmon resonator (LSPR) with limited available modes, the proposed HLSPR offers rich intrinsic resonate modes, which can enlarge the tuning ranges or frequency bands of the VCO. A switch is applied to the slit of the HLSPR to electrically control resonate modes and frequencies. Moreover, capacitors paralleled to the HLSPR can naturally avoid mode ambiguity. The HLSPR-based dual-mode VCO is prototyped in a 180-nm CMOS process. By integrating HLSPR with active circuits, the K-band VCO achieves a phase noise (PN) of -109.5 dBc/Hz @ 1-MHz offset.