Patent ID: 8076985

Claim:
A voltage-controlled oscillator that generates a local oscillation signal, the voltage-controlled oscillator comprising: an inductor circuit including inductors that are connected in series; a variable capacitance circuit including variable capacitors that are connected in series, each of the variable capacitors changing a capacitance value depending on a difference in electrical potentials between both terminals of each of the variable capacitors; at least one capacitance switching circuit that includes a capacitive element and a switching element; a negative resistance circuit; and a control section that applies a power-supply voltage to a connection point between the inductors, wherein the inductor circuit, the variable capacitance circuit, the at least one capacitance switching circuit, and the negative resistance circuit are parallelly connected to each other, a control voltage is applied to a connection point between the variable capacitors and a control signal is inputted into the capacitance switching circuit, the control section changes the power-supply voltage in association with a temperature change, so as to maintain the oscillation frequency of the local oscillation signal at a constant regardless of a temperature change, and the control section includes: a storing section that stores a temperature and a voltage value in association with one another; a sensor that senses a temperature; and a configuration section, which retrieves, from the storing section, a voltage value that corresponds to a temperature that is sensed by the sensor, and which configures the power-supply voltage to be the voltage value.