A low phase noise oscillator based on substrate integrated coaxial line technology

Abstract

In this article, a miniaturized resonator based on substrate integrated coaxial line technology (SICL) is presented. The SICL resonator consists of a hairpin half-wavelength open-ended coaxial line element and two symmetrical parallel coaxial feed lines. The gap between the feed lines and the hairpin element can be adjusted properly to obtain a steep phase change, which can result in a higher group delay peak and achieve a superior phase noise performance. Based on the proposed SICL resonator, an X-band oscillator has been designed and demonstrated by using low-cost printed circuit boards (PCBs). Great consistency between the measured and simulated results is verified. According to the measured results, the oscillation frequency of the SICL oscillator is 10.0625 GHz with −1.81 dBm RF output power, and the phase noise is −138.6 dBc/Hz@1 MHz. The statistic figure of merit (FOM) is −206.1 dBc/Hz@1 MHz.

KEYWORDS:

• Group delay peak
• oscillator
• phase noise
• resonator
• substrate integrated coaxial line (SICL)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the China National Key Research and Development Plan Project [2016YFB0600100].

Notes on contributors

Heng Du

Heng Du was born in Guangan, Sichuan Province, China, in 1992. He received the BS degree in solid electronic engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China, in 2015. He is currently pursuing the PhD degree in electromagnetic field and microwave technology in the School of Information Science and Technology, Southeast University. His current research interests include microwave and millimeter-wave circuit, transceiver systems, and radio frequency antenna.

Xutao Yu

Xutao Yu received the PhD degree from the National Mobile Communication Research Laboratory, Southeast University, Nanjing, China, in 2004. She is currently a Full Professor with the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Southeast University. Her current research interests include technologies of wireless networks and quantum communication networks.

Hui Zhang

Hui Zhang was born in Suzhou, Anhui, China, in 1980. He received the BS degree in electrical engineering from Southeast University, Nanjing, China, in 2002, the MS degree in electrical engineering from University College Kalmar, Kalmar, Sweden, in 2007, and the PhD degree in electromagnetic field and microwave technology from Southeast University, Nanjing, in 2016. Since 2002, he has been with the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Wave, School of Information Science and Technology, Southeast University. His current research interests include microwave and millimeter-wave, microwave and millimeter-wave imaging, and millimeter-wave automotive radar systems.

Peng Chen

Peng Chen was born in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, in 1982. He received the BS degree in electrical engineering from Southeast University, Nanjing, China, in 2004, and PhD degree in electromagnetic field and microwave technology with the School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China, in 2009. He is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Information Science and Technology, Southeast University. His current research interests include beam-forming networks, multi-beam antennas, phased array antennas, antenna signal processing and antenna tracking systems for satellite and mobile communications.