Low-Voltage CMOS RF Frequency Synthesizers

Book excerpt: A frequency synthesizer is one of the most critical building blocks in any wireless transceiver system. Its design is getting more and more challenging as the demand for low-voltage low-power high-frequency wireless systems continuously grows. As the supply voltage is decreased, many existing design techniques are no longer applicable. This book provides the reader with architectures and design techniques to enable CMOS frequency synthesizers to operate at low supply voltage at high frequency with good phase noise and low power consumption. In addition to updating the reader on many of these techniques in depth, this book will also introduce useful guidelines and step-by-step procedure on behaviour simulations of frequency synthesizers. Finally, three successfully demonstrated CMOS synthesizer prototypes with detailed design consideration and description will be elaborated to illustrate potential applications of the architectures and design techniques described. For engineers, managers and researchers working in radio-frequency integrated-circuit design for wireless applications.