Analog Devices debuts PLL/VCO for RF, microwave, and mmWave applications
Norwood, MA (BUSINESS WIRE). Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) announced today a synthesizer consisting of a phase-locked loop (PLL) with fully integrated voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) as well as integrated low-dropout regulators (LDOs) and integrated tracking filter technology. The new ADF4371 supports RF/microwave system designs that must meet exacting next-generation requirements across multiple markets, including aerospace and defense, test/measurement, communications infrastructure, and high-speed converter clocking.
Designed utilizing ADI’s 25 years of RF and microwave synthesizer expertise, the ADF4371 is the highest frequency synthesizer on the market today, the company reports, and offers the widest continuous RF output range of 62 MHz to 32 GHz. The device offers ultralow PLL FOM (-234 dBc/Hz), ultralow spurious (-100 dBc typ.), low VCO phase noise (-134 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset at 8 GHz), and built-in tracking-filter technology. Its feature-rich, highly configurable architecture means that designers can now choose a single, ultracompact, synthesizer solution to cover almost any LO/clock requirement within these frequency ranges, thereby reducing development costs, risk and time to market.
The ADF4371 facilitates implementation of high-resolution (39-bit) fractional-N or integer-N PLL frequency synthesizers when used with an external loop filter and an external reference source. The wideband microwave VCO design allows frequencies from 62.5 MHz to 32 GHz to be generated. The device features the industry’s lowest jitter (36 fs at 10 GHz) and reference spurious (-100 dBc typ.), together with operation to 105°C without loss of lock.
For applications requiring very small compact footprints, the ADF4371 supports integrated power-supply decoupling, integrated LDOs, and integrated harmonic tracking filters. The tracking-filter technology facilitates at least 30-dB harmonic and sub-harmonic rejection across the entire VCO range. This reduces the total solution footprint, particularly in the case where fixed-range filters are required to meet these rejections across octave bandwidths. For applications that do not require the full frequency range capability of the ADF4371 (up to 32 GHz), ADI also offers the ADF4372 with operation up to 16 GHz.