An efficient VCO Design Flow using the Method of Harmonic Balance

Inhalt:
In this work a nonlinear systematic design methodology for an efficient VCO design based on the subsequent usage of bifurcation analysis and the Harmonic Balance method is presented. By applying the Andronov-Hopf bifurcation analysis an approximation of the periodic solution of the nonlinear dynamical system representing the VCO is computed. This approximative solution serves as an optimal initial value for the method of Harmonic Balance. The validity of the proposed method has been verified by designing a fully integrated 5.5 GHz VCO for usage in the 802.11a frequency band on the schematic level using Spectre.