A ring-based inductive peaking VCO with a novel noise reduction technique is reported in this paper. An extra cascode transistor is used to bias the switching transistor into the deep triode region where the noise performance is better than that in the saturation region. A differential structure with a full custom symmetrical inductor demonstrates the benefits of the concept. The highest operational frequency reached was 39GHz with a tuning range of more than 4 octaves. The figure of merit (≈189) indicates that better overall combination of frequency and phase noise is obtained when compared with previous work.

In this paper, we present a brief history of silicon photonics from the early research papers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to the potentially revolutionary technology that exists today. Given that other papers in this special issue give detailed reviews of key aspects of the technology, this paper will concentrate on the key technological milestones that were crucial in demonstrating the capability of silicon photonics as both a successful technical platform, as well as indicating the potential for commercial success. The paper encompasses discussion of the key technology areas of passive devices, modulators, detectors, light sources, and system integration. In so doing, the paper will also serve as an introduction to the other papers within this special issue.