ADVANCED ON-CHIP DIVIDER FOR MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE VCOS

DEVELOPMENT OF AN ADVANCED MONOLITHIC GAAS 8.5 VOLTAGE CONTROLLED OSCILLATOR WITH ON-CHIP GENERATION OF A LOW FREQUENCY REFERENCE OUTPUT, SUITABLE FOR PHASE LOCKED LOOP APPLICATIONS, IS PROPOSED. CIRCUIT ELEMENTS AND DESIGNS TECHNIQUES TRADITIONALLY RESERVED FOR MICROWAVE APPLICATIONSARE UTILIZED TO OBTAIN THE HIGH SPEED DIVIDE BY N CIRCUIT. A COHERENT REFERENCE SIGNAL IN THE 90-200 MHZ RANGE IS THEN GENERATED BY MORE TRADITIONAL ON-CHIP GAAS DIGITAL IC COUNTERS. PROGRAM PHASE I DEMONSTRATES VCO FEASIBILITY BY DETAILED DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF A DIVIDE BY 5 MONOLITHIC CIRCUIT WHICH IS INTEGRABLE WITH OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE VCO. AN ASSESSMENT OF THE UPPER FREQUENCY LIMIT OF THIS APPROACH,WHICH MAY EXTEND INTO THE MILLIMETER-WAVE RANGE, IS MADE IN PROGRAM PHASE II. FABRICATION, CHARACTERIZATION, AND OPTIMIZATION OF THE VCO IS THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THE SECOND PHASE.