A 1.57 GHz fully integrated very low phase noise quadrature VCO

A very low phase noise quadrature VCO is presented, featuring an inherently better figure of merit than the existing architectures. Through an improved circuit schematic and a special layout technique, the phase noise of the circuit could be lowered to stand amongst the lowest published. The circuit draws 15 mA from a 2 V supply. The phase noise is -136.5 dBc/Hz@600 kHz and the tuning range is 24% wide at a center frequency of 1.57 GHz. The figure of merit outperforms other published QVCOs.