A Spur-Reduced Power-Efficient Fully Differential VCO-based Operational Transconductance Amplifier

Kaxin Tang; Jesko Flemming; Pascal Witte; Bernhard Wicht; Hendrik Siemßen

doi:10.1109/PRIME66228.2025.11203413

A Spur-Reduced Power-Efficient Fully Differential VCO-based Operational Transconductance Amplifier

Kaxin Tang^*, Jesko Flemming, Pascal Witte, Bernhard Wicht, Hendrik Siemßen

^*Corresponding author for this work

University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hannover (HsH)

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Research › peer review

Abstract

In this paper a spur-reduced fully differential VCO-based operational transconductance amplifier (VCO-OTA) is presented. This work extends a state-of-the-art (SOTA) implementation, where a combination of a phase-frequency detector (PFD) and a charge pump (CP) is utilized. The architecture is enhanced by splitting the CP into three CPs while the total current remains the same. Compared to the SOTA architecture our implementation features significantly reduced ripples, i.e., a spur reduction of 13.9 dB, while shifting harmonics to three times higher frequencies due to the higher interleaved clock of the output stage. With a combination of the three CP blocks into a single unit, these improvements are achieved without spending significantly more power or area as compared to the SOTA VCO-OTA.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2025 20th International Conference on PhD Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, PRIME 2025
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)	9798331503901
ISBN (Print)	979-8-3315-0391-8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/PRIME66228.2025.11203413
Publication status	Published - 21 Sept 2025
Event	20th International Conference on PhD Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, PRIME 2025 - Taormina, Italy Duration: 21 Sept 2025 → 24 Sept 2025

Conference

Conference	20th International Conference on PhD Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, PRIME 2025
Abbreviated title	PRIME 2025
Country/Territory	Italy
City	Taormina
Period	21 Sept 2025 → 24 Sept 2025

Keywords

fully differential amplifier
power efficiency
spur reduction
VCO-OTA

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Energy Engineering and Power Technology
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Instrumentation

Access to Document

10.1109/PRIME66228.2025.11203413

Cite this

Tang, K., Flemming, J., Witte, P., Wicht, B., & Siemßen, H. (2025). A Spur-Reduced Power-Efficient Fully Differential VCO-based Operational Transconductance Amplifier. In 2025 20th International Conference on PhD Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, PRIME 2025 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1109/PRIME66228.2025.11203413

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title = "A Spur-Reduced Power-Efficient Fully Differential VCO-based Operational Transconductance Amplifier",

abstract = "In this paper a spur-reduced fully differential VCO-based operational transconductance amplifier (VCO-OTA) is presented. This work extends a state-of-the-art (SOTA) implementation, where a combination of a phase-frequency detector (PFD) and a charge pump (CP) is utilized. The architecture is enhanced by splitting the CP into three CPs while the total current remains the same. Compared to the SOTA architecture our implementation features significantly reduced ripples, i.e., a spur reduction of 13.9 dB, while shifting harmonics to three times higher frequencies due to the higher interleaved clock of the output stage. With a combination of the three CP blocks into a single unit, these improvements are achieved without spending significantly more power or area as compared to the SOTA VCO-OTA.",

keywords = "fully differential amplifier, power efficiency, spur reduction, VCO-OTA",

author = "Kaxin Tang and Jesko Flemming and Pascal Witte and Bernhard Wicht and Hendrik Siem{\ss}en",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 IEEE.; 20th International Conference on PhD Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, PRIME 2025, PRIME 2025 ; Conference date: 21-09-2025 Through 24-09-2025",

year = "2025",

month = sep,

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doi = "10.1109/PRIME66228.2025.11203413",

language = "English",

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booktitle = "2025 20th International Conference on PhD Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, PRIME 2025",

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}

Tang, K, Flemming, J, Witte, P, Wicht, B & Siemßen, H 2025, A Spur-Reduced Power-Efficient Fully Differential VCO-based Operational Transconductance Amplifier. in 2025 20th International Conference on PhD Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, PRIME 2025. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 20th International Conference on PhD Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, PRIME 2025, Taormina, Italy, 21 Sept 2025. https://doi.org/10.1109/PRIME66228.2025.11203413

A Spur-Reduced Power-Efficient Fully Differential VCO-based Operational Transconductance Amplifier. / Tang, Kaxin; Flemming, Jesko; Witte, Pascal et al.
2025 20th International Conference on PhD Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, PRIME 2025. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2025.

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Research › peer review

TY - GEN

T1 - A Spur-Reduced Power-Efficient Fully Differential VCO-based Operational Transconductance Amplifier

AU - Tang, Kaxin

AU - Flemming, Jesko

AU - Witte, Pascal

AU - Wicht, Bernhard

AU - Siemßen, Hendrik

PY - 2025/9/21

Y1 - 2025/9/21

N2 - In this paper a spur-reduced fully differential VCO-based operational transconductance amplifier (VCO-OTA) is presented. This work extends a state-of-the-art (SOTA) implementation, where a combination of a phase-frequency detector (PFD) and a charge pump (CP) is utilized. The architecture is enhanced by splitting the CP into three CPs while the total current remains the same. Compared to the SOTA architecture our implementation features significantly reduced ripples, i.e., a spur reduction of 13.9 dB, while shifting harmonics to three times higher frequencies due to the higher interleaved clock of the output stage. With a combination of the three CP blocks into a single unit, these improvements are achieved without spending significantly more power or area as compared to the SOTA VCO-OTA.

AB - In this paper a spur-reduced fully differential VCO-based operational transconductance amplifier (VCO-OTA) is presented. This work extends a state-of-the-art (SOTA) implementation, where a combination of a phase-frequency detector (PFD) and a charge pump (CP) is utilized. The architecture is enhanced by splitting the CP into three CPs while the total current remains the same. Compared to the SOTA architecture our implementation features significantly reduced ripples, i.e., a spur reduction of 13.9 dB, while shifting harmonics to three times higher frequencies due to the higher interleaved clock of the output stage. With a combination of the three CP blocks into a single unit, these improvements are achieved without spending significantly more power or area as compared to the SOTA VCO-OTA.

KW - fully differential amplifier

KW - power efficiency

KW - spur reduction

KW - VCO-OTA

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U2 - 10.1109/PRIME66228.2025.11203413

DO - 10.1109/PRIME66228.2025.11203413

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:105021601258

SN - 979-8-3315-0391-8

BT - 2025 20th International Conference on PhD Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, PRIME 2025

PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

T2 - 20th International Conference on PhD Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, PRIME 2025

Y2 - 21 September 2025 through 24 September 2025

ER -

A Spur-Reduced Power-Efficient Fully Differential VCO-based Operational Transconductance Amplifier

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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