An innovative, high‐quality factor, and small‐area V‐shaped inductor is presented in this article to improve the performance of voltage‐controlled oscillators (VCOs). The differential inductance of the suggested V‐shaped inductor in the resonator and the buffer is 280 pH and 630 pH, respectively. The inductor area is compacted by 42% and 76% compared to the conventional inductor with the same inductance value. Using 0.18‐ CMOS technology, the proposed V‐shaped inductor is employed to design a compact VCO operating at Ku‐band. The proposed VCO has a simulated phase noise range of −114 to −114.6 dBc/Hz, which is relatively constant. Also, its simulated frequency tuning range (FTR) is 5.6 % from 14.03 to 14.74 GHz. The power consumption is 2.2 mW. The simulated figure of merit (FoM) ranges from −193.5 to −194.2 dBc/Hz, which is enhanced by 6%. The designed VCO core area is 0.034 mm2