Radio-Frequency Performance Degradation in CMOS Divide-by-3 Injection-Locked Frequency Divider Due to Hot Carrier Effects

This contribution experimentally investigates the hot carrier effects on the RF characteristics of a wide-locking range divide-by-3 injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD). The ILFD was implemented in the TSMC 0.18 mu m CMOS process. High supply voltage stresses were applied at room temperature on the ILFD. The main observed degradation is a decrease of locking range. It was also found that the phase noises in both the free-running and locked state increase with stress time and ILFD-core current and power consumptions decrease with stress time.