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Optimized reduction of spur tones in fractional frequency synthesizers

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Abstract

In this article the contribution of the digital \(\Upsigma\Updelta\) modulator in fractional frequency synthesizers is explored. Due to the circuit’s non linear behavior, the spur tones generated by the digital \(\Upsigma\Updelta\) modulation degrade the synthesizer’s phase noise even in regions where the charge pump noise is dominant. A new method to dither digital MASH \(\Upsigma\Updelta\) modulators for fractional frequency synthesizers is proposed. The method barely increases the circuit complexity and has the same performance as more cumbersome architectures. Also, a new design consideration to linearize the voltage control oscillator is proposed. Experimental results are obtained in an on-chip fractional synthesizer manufactured in CMOS technology.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by CONACyT Mexico with the project J45732, the grant #131617 and by the Italian National Program FIRB #RBAP06L4S5.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Elettronica, Microsistemi Integrati, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Pavia, Italia

    Victor R. Gonzalez-Diaz & Franco Maloberti

  2. Departamento de Electrónica, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Baja California, México

    Miguel A. Garcia-Andrade

  3. Electronics Coordination, National Institute for Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (INAOE), Puebla, México

    Guillermo Espinosa F. V.

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  1. Victor R. Gonzalez-Diaz
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  2. Miguel A. Garcia-Andrade
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  3. Guillermo Espinosa F. V.
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  4. Franco Maloberti
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Correspondence to Victor R. Gonzalez-Diaz.

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Gonzalez-Diaz, V.R., Garcia-Andrade, M.A., Espinosa F. V., G. et al. Optimized reduction of spur tones in fractional frequency synthesizers. Analog Integr Circ Sig Process 65, 245–251 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-010-9473-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-010-9473-9

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