Design of High-Performance CMOS Tunable Active Inductor

In this paper, a new single-ended tunable active inductor (TAI) based on the use of two simples transconducters is proposed. A feedback resistance is added to improve the quality factor, while the tuning range of the desired inductance value is achieved by using a network of capacitance. The TAI has been implemented in a MS/RF 90 nm CMOS technology and a 1-V supply is used. The simulation results show that an inductance tuning range from 3.55 to 50 nH can be achieved. A high quality factor of 895 is obtained at the frequency 1.82 GHz. The circuit occupies a small active area of 22 x 27.5 mm(2), presents a noise level of less than 4.2nV/v Hz, and consumes a power of 0.5 mW.