Building a Microwave Frequency Synthesizer 1.pdfVIP

58 High Frequency Electronics High Frequency Design SYNTHESIZER DESIGN Building a Microwave Frequency Synthesizer — Part 1: Getting Started By Alexander Chenakin Phase Matrix, Inc. The frequency syn-thesizer is a keybuilding block of virtually any microwave test and measurement, communication or moni- toring system [1-5]. Synthesizers come in a variety of forms ranging from a tiny PLL chip to a bench-top signal generator. Traditionally we imagine them as a connectorized metal box or “brick” which can be put into a more com- plex instrument or subsystem. This series of articles presents an overview of microwave frequency synthesizer technolo- gies and design techniques with a specific focus on the synthesizer “brick” modules. It starts with general requirements and specifi- cations followed by a review of the main syn- thesizer architectures. Direct analog, direct digital, and indirect techniques are compared in terms of performance, circuit complexity, and cost impact. A simple, single-loop PLL example is used to demonstrate the most important aspects of the design process from a general block diagram and component selec- tion to schematic, board layout, assembling, and testing. The design trade-offs are further analyzed and complemented with a detailed review of the most advanced synthesizer solu- tions including DDS-based and multiloop schemes. Reviewing the Specifications A frequency synthesizer can be treated as a black box that translates one (or more) input base (reference) frequency to a number of out- put frequencies as shown in Figure 1. The box contains individual components such as volt- age-controlled oscillators, frequency dividers, multipliers, phase detectors, mixers, ampli- fiers, etc., which being properly connected, perform this translation function. Although all synthesizers exhibit significant differences as a result of specific applications, they share basic characteristics and design objectives as listed below. The synthesizer’s characteristics