In accordance with an embodiment, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) includes a VCO core having a plurality of transistors and a varactor circuit that has a first end coupled to emitter terminals of the VCO core and a second end coupled to a tuning terminal. The varactor circuit includes a capacitance that increases with increasing voltage applied to the tuning terminal with respect to the emitter terminals of the VCO core.

A receiver front-end capable of receiving RF inputs having a broad range of levels. The receiver comprises a low-noise amplifier (LNA) operating in a variety of bias modes that cover a large gain range. Branches of the amplifier can be turned on in various combinations to allow selection of different bias modes. A degeneration inductor coupled to the source of the common source FET of each branch has a plurality of taps that are coupled to degeneration switches that can ground the tap to effectively shorten the degeneration inductor and reduce the amount of degeneration inductance. The degeneration inductor and associated switches can be fabricated using one of several physical layouts. Operating the degeneration switches to select the length of the degeneration inductor to match the bias mode reduces changes in the input impedance as different bias modes are selected.

An apparatus comprising two inductors; wherein the two inductors are layered on top of each other in different layers of metal of a circuit; wherein each inductor of the inductor has a set of turns; wherein the current path of the two inductors is in the same direction.

A voltage controlled oscillator includes a resonator and an amplifier. The resonator includes a capacitive element and an inductive element. The inductive element has a plurality of conductive segments forming a physical loop. The inductive element has electrical connections on the physical loop to the plurality of conductive segments forming at least one electrical loop disposed within an interior space formed by the physical loop. The amplifier has an input and an output, the input coupled to a first conductive segment forming a first impedance and the output coupled to a second conductive segment forming a second impedance.

Described herein is a combination of mixed-signal hardware and software that is capable or realizing hybrid chaotic oscillators that can be tuned digitally. This includes the type/class of chaotic oscillator, initial conditions, nonlinear elements, thresholds, nonlinear event surfaces, delays, etc. At the same time, tunable methods of how to use the chaotic oscillator information to encrypt and decrypt both analog and digital information is presented. This will make the secure information not vulnerable by digital information compromises or hardware breach.

Described herein is a combination of mixed-signal hardware and software that is capable or realizing hybrid chaotic oscillators that can be tuned digitally. This includes the type/class of chaotic oscillator, initial conditions, nonlinear elements, thresholds, nonlinear event surfaces, delays, etc. At the same time, tunable methods of how to use the chaotic oscillator information to encrypt and decrypt both analog and digital information is presented. This will make the secure information not vulnerable by digital information compromises or hardware breach.

In accordance with an embodiment, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) includes a VCO core having a plurality of transistors and a varactor circuit that has a first end coupled to emitter terminals of the VCO core and a second end coupled to a tuning terminal. The varactor circuit includes a capacitance that increases with increasing voltage applied to the tuning terminal with respect to the emitter terminals of the VCO core.

Disclosed are example embodiments of a circuit comprising a first inductor-capacitor (LC) loop, a second LC loop having at least one of a series connection or parallel connection to the first LC loop, and a gyrator coupled between the first LC loop and the second LC loop. In an example, the first LC and the second LC loop each include an inductive element (L) and a capacitive (C) element coupled to each other in series. In another example, the first LC and the second LC loop each include an inductive element (L) and a capacitive (C) element coupled to each other in parallel.