1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a broadband voltage controlled oscillator and a method for generating a broadband oscillation frequency; and, more particularly, to a broadband voltage controlled oscillator and a method for generating a broadband oscillation frequency capable of operating over a wide frequency band by including a weighted current cell to select two frequency band modes, generating various levels of total 64 oscillation frequencies by including a variable frequency tank and a capacitor bank, and further facilitating adjustment of the total 64 oscillation frequencies distributed over the wide frequency band by including a control signal generator for generating control signals each of which is applied to the weighted current cell, the variable frequency tank and the capacitor bank by a BDD (Binary Decision Diagram) technique.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator) is a module for varying a resonated frequency by varying capacitance of a varactor through an inputted tuning voltage and oscillating and amplifying the resonated frequency and is widely utilized within an RF transceiver of a PCS or a CDMA terminal.
The RF transceiver mostly employs a frequency synthesizer using a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) of an LC-VCO type, i.e., a VCO type including an inductor and a capacitor. The VCO type including the inductor and the capacitor has advantages in that a high frequency of several GHz band can be generated and in an oscillation frequency characteristic, a phase noise characteristic is excellent.
Recently, with development of wire communication and a various market change, a need is increasing to provide a frequency synthesizer which operates in a wide range in order to transmit large-capacity information. However, the inductor and the capacitor are changed in the characteristics thereof at the high frequency and therefore it is difficult for the VCO type including the inductor and the capacitor to generate the oscillation frequency of a wide operation range.
Hereinafter, the VCO in accordance with the prior art will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing.
FIG. 1 shows a circuit diagram of the VCO 100 in accordance with the prior art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the VCO 100 in accordance with the prior art includes a first negative-resistance unit 110, an inductor 120, a capacitor 130 and a second negative-resistance unit 140.
The VCO 100 in accordance with the prior art generates a center frequency by calculating values of the inductor and the capacitor by an equation of f=1/(LC)1/2 for a single oscillation frequency band and makes switch banks with capacitors having small capacitance in order to generate channel frequencies corresponding to each of the switch banks. Herein, the channel frequencies are within a narrow range with respect to the center frequency due to the characteristics of the inductor and the capacitor at a high frequency.
Therefore, the VCO 100 in accordance with the prior art de-multiplies and uses the oscillation frequency band generated as described above in order to use a low frequency. For instance, an oscillation frequency band of 1.6 GHz to 1.8 GHz is used by being de-multiplied into a frequency band of 800 MHz to 900 MHz and in order to use a frequency band lower than the frequency band, the frequency band of 800 MHz to 900 MHz is de-multiplied into 400 MHz to 450 MHz.
However, the prior art has problems in that the phase noise characteristic is deteriorated and phase noise of a low frequency band further influences a high frequency band as the oscillation frequency band generated by the VCO is de-multiplied.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds