TECHNICAL FEATURE

sign by analytically predicting oscillator feed-

back parameters that allow the oscillator oper-
ation mode to be realized very close to opti-
mum.
2
A GENERAL ANALYTIC APPROACH
The general procedure for microwave tran-
sistor oscillator design is to define the optimal
values of feedback elements and load that cor-
respond to the maximum power at a given fre-
quency while in stable steady-state, large-sig-
nal operation. The common-gate FET oscilla-
tor configuration with positive series feedback
between gate and ground is shown in Figure
1 where Z
i
= R
i
+ jX
i
, i = 1 or 2 and Z
L
= R
L
+
jX
L
. This circuit configuration was selected
due to its inherent broadband negative resis-
tance. I f the correct feedback reactance is
added, oscillations can occur from very low
frequencies to the approximate maximum os-
cillation frequency f
max
. The small-signal FET
equivalent circuit, which characterizes the de-
vice properties with good accuracy up to 50
GHz, also is presented in the diagram.
3
ANDREY V. GREBENNI KOV
I nstitute of Microelectronics
Singapore
TECHNICAL FEATURE
M
icrowave FET oscillators have
demonstrated well-behaved opera-
tion and easy integration capability in
both hybrid and monolithic integrated cir-
cuits. The essential expansion of their applica-
tion on the one hand and requirements for
low oscillator cost on the other call for new
approaches to transistor oscillator design. I n
large-signal operation, it is necessary to define
appropriate parameters of the active two-port
network and external elements of the oscilla-
tor circuit. I nitially, the values of the external
circuit elements are unknown and for a given
microwave oscillator with a required frequen-
cy of oscillation it is difficult to directly choose
their values without any preliminary calcula-
tion. This process can be sufficiently time con-
suming and in a general case calls for much
simulation. Therefore, it is con-
venient to use an analytic
method of optimum microwave
oscillator design that deter-
mines the explicit expressions
for feedback elements and load
impedance in terms of the tran-
sistor equivalent circuit para-
meters.
1
Such an approach has
been applied successfully to mi-
crowave bipolar oscillator de-
MI CROWAVE FET
OSCI LLATORS: AN ANALYTI C
APPROACH TO SI MPLI FY
COMPUTER-AI DED DESI GN
M
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AVE JO
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IT
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D
REVIEWED
g
L
g
L
s
L
d
d
R
g
R
gs
R
ds
R
s
R
d
C
gd
C
gs
Z
1
Z
L
Z
out
Z
2
s
g
m,
C
ds
Fig. 1 The series-feedback
FET oscillator equivalent
circuit.
w
The steady-state oscillation condi-
tion for a single oscillation frequency
can be expressed as
Z
out
(I ,) + Z
L
() = 0 (1)
where Z
out
(I ,) = R
out
(I ,) + jX
out
(I ,) is an equivalent one-port net-
work output impedance looking into
the FET drain where a series-tuned
circuit, Z
L
() = R
L
() + jX
L
(), is
the frequency-dependent load impe-
dance. The output impedance Z
out
can be expressed through the transis-
tor equivalent circuit and feedback
parameters as
I t is advisable to optimize the os-
cillator in terms of the maximum val-
ue of the negative real part of the
one-port network output impedance.
1
I n this case, the optimal values X
1
and X
2
(at which the negative value
R
out
is maximum) can be defined by
solving the two equations
The analytic calculations show that
the optimal values X
1
0
and X
2
0
depend
on the impedance parameters of the
active two-port network as
By substituting X
1
0
and X
2
0
into Equa-
tion 2, the optimal real and imaginary
parts of the output impedance Z
0
out
=
R
0
out
+ jX
0
out
can be defined using
X
R R
X X
R R
R R
X
X X
X
R R R R R
X X
X X
1
0
21 12
21 12
12 21
11 1
11
12 21
2
0
2 12 21 21 12
21 12
12 21
2
2
2
2
2
4

_
,

+
+

+ +
( )

( )

( )

+
( )

R
X
and
R
X
out out
1 2
0 0
3 ( )
Z
Z Z
Z Z Z Z
Z Z Z
out

+
+
( )
+
( )
+ +
22 2
12 2 21 2
11 2 1
2

( )
SMALL-SIGNAL OSCILLATOR
CIRCUIT DESIGN
The internal FET in a common-
source small-signal operation is conve-
niently characterized with the help of
Y parameters, the frequency depen-
dencies of which are determined as
where
= transit time in the FET channel
To significantly simplify the prelimi-
nary theoretical calculations, it is ad-
visable in some cases to neglect the
influence of gate-drain capacitance
C
gd
and transit time . By using well-
known transformations of Y and Z pa-
rameters and substituting the expres-
sions for the real and imaginary parts
of Z parameters from Equation 6 into
Equation 4, the optimum values of
the imaginary parts of the feedback
elements X
1
0
, X
2
0
and X
0
out
, expressed
through the parameters of the FET
equivalent circuit, are determined by
X
C
R
C R R
g
C
X R C R
g
C
X R C R
g
C
gs
ds
ds gs g
m
gs
ds ds s
m
gs
out ds ds out
m
gs
1
0
2
0
0 0
1
2
2
2
7
+
+
( )
+

1
]
1
1
+

_
,

1
]
1
1

( )
Y
j C
j C R
j C
Y j C
Y
g j
j C R
j C
Y
R
j C C
gs
gs gs
dg
dg
m
gs gs
dg
ds
ds dg
11
12
21
22
1
1
1
6

+
+

( )
+

+ +
( )

exp
( )
R R R
R R R X X
R R R
X X X
R R
X X
R R R
out
out
out
0
2 22
2 12 21
2
21 12
2
11 2 1
0
2
0
22
21 12
21 12
0
2 22
2
4
5
+

+ +
( )
+
( )
+ +
( )
+

( )

( )
To develop an optimal series-feed-
back FET oscillator, the values of the
reactances X
1
0
and X
2
0
should be in-
ductive and capacitive, respectively,
in accordance with Equation 7. The
analytic equation for the calculation
of R
0
out
can be written as
Defining the differential drain resis-
tance R
ds
and expressing it through the
output resistance R
0
out
requires a solu-
tion to the quadratic Equation 8. Thus,
where
LARGE-SIGNAL SIMULATION
One of the most popular ap-
proaches for a nonlinear free-running
oscillator analysis is to use the har-
monic balance equations developed
for the circuit and consider the oscil-
lation frequency as an additional opti-
mization variable.
4
Such an algorithm
is used in version 7.5 of Microwave
Harmonica as a part of the circuit
simulator Serenade 7.5.
5
The basic
idea in this method can be explained
starting from the oscillation condi-
tions described in Equation 1 when
an oscillator circuit is considered a
one-port circuit. To determine the
resonant frequency, the program
computes the circuit loop gain by im-
posing a small test voltage source on
the circuit, as shown in Figure 2.
G
R R R
g
C
R R C
dso
g s gs
m
gs
out s ds

+ +

_
,

+
( )( )
1
2
2
0
2

R
R R G
G
ds
out s dso
dso

+
( )

_
,

1 1 4
2
9
0
( )
R R
R
C R
R
R R R
g
C
out s
ds
ds ds
ds
g s gs
m
gs
0
2
2
1
1
2
8
+
+
( )

+ +

_
,

1
]
1
1
1

( )
TECHNICAL FEATURE
OSCILLATOR
CIRCUIT
V
1
Y
1
I
1
Y
load
Y
osc
v Fig. 2 The principle of nonlinear
circuit simulation.
The source fundamental current I
1
= Re(I
1
) + jI m(I
1
) is a function of the
zero-phase peak voltage V
1
and fre-
quency f. I f f is the circuits self-reso-
nant frequency, then the phase of the
current I
1
is zero and I m(I
1
) = 0 for a
nonzero Re(I
1
). For a nonzero volt-
age V
1
and a small I m(I
1
), the steady-
state oscillations conditions (Equa-
tion 1) are carried out for Re(I
1
) = 0
when the circuit feedback loop gain
equals unity. The starting oscillation
conditions are found at Re(I
1
) < 0
and I m(I
1
) = 0.
To verify the accuracy of the analyt-
ic approach used with reference to the
calculations of the oscillator external
feedback parameters, a power mi-
crowave MESFET (l = 1 m, w = 4
200 m) has been chosen.
3
To deter-
mine the value of output resistance
R
o
out
in consideration of the drain series
resistance R
d
for the chosen value of
load resistance R
L
, it is necessary to
use the amplitude balance equation
R
o
out
+ R
d
+ R
L
= 0. For a preliminarily
defined oscillation frequency f = 4
GHz, the optimum oscillator feedback
parameters according to the theoreti-
cal calculations must be equal to L =
5.0 nH and C = 0.4 pF when the load
resistance R
L
= 50 . To satisfy the
phase balance condition X
o
out
+ L
d
+
X
L
= 0 where L
d
is the drain lead in-
ductance, the value of X
L
should be in-
ductive and L
L
= 4.0 nH. The small-
signal parameters of the transistor
equivalent circuit are listed in Table 1.
The nonlinear circuit simulation
was determined for a microwave se-
ries-feedback circuit MESFET oscil-
lator, the equivalent circuit of which is
shown in Figure 3. The starting oscil-
lation conditions were determined by
sweeping the frequency f of the exter-
nal test source from 3 to 5 GHz. The
curves satisfy starting oscillation con-
ditions under linear small-signal oper-
ation where Re(I
1
) <0 and I m(I
1
) = 0
at 4.4 GHz, as shown in Figure 4. I n
the steady-state operation mode the
oscillation frequency becomes equal
TECHNICAL FEATURE
TABLE I
TRANSISTOR EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT
SMALL-SIGNAL PARAMETERS
L
g
(pH) 50.4
L
s
(pH) 0.1
L
d
(pH) 60.1
R
g
() 2.0
R
gs
() 2.0
R
s
() 0.93
R
d
() 1.1
C
gs
(pF) 1.2
C
gd
(pF) 0.087
C
ds
(pF) 0.199
g
m
(mS) 97.4
(ps) 4.8
to 3.85 GHz, which is in good agree-
ment with the predicted theoretical
value. However, neglecting the gate-
drain capacitance C
gd
and transit time
leads to an inductive value of load
reactance. I n the optimal oscillator
the maximum output power is real-
ized under the conditions of complete
phase compensation with a load reac-
tance equal to zero.
1
To increase the oscillation fre-
quency to f = 12 GHz the optimal os-
cillator feedback parameters accord-
ing to theoretical calculations must
be L = 0.35 nH and C = 0.5 pF, as
shown in Figure 5. I n this case, to
satisfy the phase balance condition
X
o
out
+ L
d
+ X
L
= 0, the value of X
L
must be capacitive and C
L
= 1 pF.
The simulated value of the oscillation
frequency is 10.72 GHz, which dif-
fers from the theoretical value by
only 11 percent. The oscillation fre-
quency dependence of R
L
is shown in
10 nH
10 nH
10 nH
5.0 nH
10 pF 0.4 pF
4.0 nH 10 pF
FET
MATERKA
S
G
D
V 0.6 V 6
FREQUENCY
SINGLE TONE
nHarm: 5
FREQUENCY: 2 to 6 GHz
+

v Fig. 3 The simulated series-feedback 4 GHz FET oscillator equivalent circuit.

2
1
0
1
2
6 5 4
FREQUENCY (GHz)
3 2
Y
1

(
m
A
)
Fig. 4 The simulated starting
oscillation conditions.
w
10 nH
10 nH
10 nH
0.35 nH
10 pF 0.5 pF
1.0 pF
FET
MATERKA
S
G
D
V 0.6 V 6
FREQUENCY
SINGLE TONE
nHarm: 5
FREQUENCY: 7 to 15 GHz
+

v Fig. 5 The simulated series-feedback 12 GHz FET oscillator equivalent circuit.

Figure 6 from which it follows that
maximum output power P
out
= 22.9
dBm can be realized for load values
of 20 to 30 . The constant bias drain
current did not exceed 96 mA under
the simulation procedure.
The subsequent computer simula-
tion shows that the large-signal oscil-
lation conditions for various values of
feedback elements L and C exist in a
very broadband frequency range. Fig-
ure 7 shows the frequency depen-
dence of source feedback capacitance
C when R
L
= 25 and L = 0.35 nH.
Capacitance tuning of 0.15 to 2.00 pF
results in frequency tuning of 8.3 to
13.6 GHz with an approximately con-
stant level of output power of 23 to 24
dBm. I mproved frequency tuning
characteristics can be achieved by in-
ductive tuning. Frequency depen-
dence of the gate feedback induc-
tance L is shown in Figure 8 where
R
L
= 25 and L = 0.5 pF. I n this
case, inductive tuning of 0.2 to 7.0 nH
results in frequency tuning of 3.9 to
13.3 GHz with an output power level
of 19 to 23 dBm. I n addition, the os-
cillation conditions are satisfied under
a subsequent increase of gate feed-
back inductance up to 100 nH with an
appropriate decrease of oscillation
frequency to 2.8 GHz.
I t was shown previously that a se-
ries-feedback MESFET oscillator was
successfully used as an octave band-
width varactor-tuned oscillator in the
frequency range of 7.25 to 14.65
GHz.
6
I n the case of the given power
MESFET, both the upper bandwidth
frequency and output power of the
oscillator can be increased significant-
ly. The equivalent oscillator circuit for
wideband tuning is shown in Figure
9. The values of source and gate bias
inductances were preliminarily cho-
sen to maximize the frequency tuning
bandwidth, and an additional capaci-
tor of 1 pF in parallel with the load
resistance was used to provide stable
oscillation conditions throughout the
entire tuning range when R
L
= 50 .
As a result, simultaneous gate and
source feedback capacitance tuning of
0.09 to 2.0 pF produced a wide fre-
quency tuning bandwidth of 10.1 to
26.0 GHz with high output power, as
shown in Figure 10.
TECHNICAL FEATURE
CONCLUSION
A simple analytic approach to mi-
crowave FET oscillator design has
been used to define explicit expres-
sions for optimum values of feedback
elements through transistor Z para-
meters. A negative resistance concept
was utilized to design a series-feed-
back microwave FET oscillator with
optimized feedback elements and
maximum output power in terms of
the transistor impedance parameters.
Such an approach simplifies signifi-
cantly the nonlinear circuit simula-
tion procedure. A very broadband ca-
pacitor tuning of the series MESFET
oscillator in the Ku and K frequency
bands has been demonstrated. Final
simulation results indicate the attrac-
tiveness and advisability of the circuit
parameter analytic evaluation for
nonlinear computer-aided design. s
References
1. A.V. Grebennikov and V.V. Nikiforov, An
Analytic Method of Microwave Transistor
Oscillator Design, I nternational Journal
of Electronics, Vol. 83, December 1997,
pp. 849858.
2. A.V. Grebennikov, Microwave Transistor
Oscillators: An Analytic Approach to Sim-
plify Computer-aided Design, Microwave
J ournal, Vol. 42, No. 5, May 1999,
pp. 292300.
3. J.M. Dortu, J.E. Muller, M. Pirola and G.
Ghione, Accurate Large-signal GaAs
MESFET and HEMT Modelling for Pow-
er MMI C Amplifier Design, I nternational
Journal of Microwaveand Millimeter-wave
Computer-aided Engineering, Vol. 5,
March 1995, pp. 195209.
4. C.R. Chang, M.B. Steer, S. Martin and E.
Reese, Computer-aided Analysis of Free-
running Microwave Oscillators, I EEE
11.1
11.0
10.9
10.8
10.7
60 50 40 30
R
L
()
20 10 0
23
20
17
P
o
u
t

(
d
B
m
)
f

(
G
H
z
)
v Fig. 6 Output power and oscillation
frequency vs. load resistance.
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
2.4 2.0 1.6 1.2
C (pF)
0.8 0.4 0
f

(
G
H
z
)
v Fig. 7 Oscillation frequency
vs. feedback capacitance.
15
13
11
9
7
5
3
6 5 4 3
L (nH)
2 1 0
f

(
G
H
z
)
v Fig. 8 Oscillation frequency
vs. feedback inductance.
0.8 nH
0.5 nH
10 nH
0.5 nH
0.09 pF 0.09 pF
1 pF
1 pF
FET
MATERKA
S
G
D
V 0.6 V 6
FREQUENCY
SINGLE TONE
nHarm: 5
FREQUENCY: 5 to 40 GHz
+

v Fig. 9 The simulated series-feedback-tuned FET oscillator equivalent circuit.

26
23
20
17
14
11
8
f

(
G
H
z
)
18
16
14
12
2.4 2.0 1.6 1.2
C (pF)
0.8 0.4 0
P
o
u
t

(
d
B
m
)
v Fig. 10 Output power and oscillation
frequency vs. tuned capacitance.
Transactions on Microwave Theory and
Techniques, Vol. 39, October 1991,
pp. 17351745.
5. Microwave Harmonica, Reference Vol-
ume, Version 7.5/P.C., Ansoft Corporation,
New Jersey, 1998.
6. J . Kitchen, Octave Bandwidth Varactor-
tuned Oscillators, Microwave J ournal,
Vol. 30, No. 5, May 1987, pp. 347353.
Andrey Viktorovich
Grebennikovreceived
his Dipl I ng degree
fromMoscow I nstitute
of Physics and
Technology and his
PhD degree from
Moscow Technical
University of
Communication and
I nformatics in 1980
and 1991, respectively.
I n 1983, he joined the scientific research
department of Moscow Technical University of
Communication and I nformatics as a research
assistant. Since October 1998 he has been
working with the I nstitute of Microelectronics,
Singapore. Grebennikov can be reached via e-
mail at andrei@ime.org.sg.
TECHNICAL FEATURE