Jacob Trevithick | IMS 2020 MicroApps Presentation

Outline

(2)Marki Microwave Inc. ©

1. Simple techniques to optimize your phase noise measurement floor

2. Amplifier specific phase noise considerations

3. Amplifier vs. oscillator phase noise, which has more impact?

Holzworth HA7062C Phase

Noise Analyzer• Real-time, cross correlation phase

noise analyzer

• Allows for accurate measurement of

system noise floor

Source: http://www.holzworth.com/Spec_sheets/HA7062C_Web_Datasheet.pdf

Absolute Vs. Residual Phase noise Test setups

(3)Marki Microwave Inc. ©

Residual Phase Noise Basic Test SetupAbsolute Phase Noise Basic Test SetupH

olzw

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HA

70

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C P

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OSC. Power Supply

DUT Input

LO1

LO2

Driver Amp

Variable Phase Shifter

3-way Power Divider Variable

Phase Shifter

Source Oscillator

DUT

Holzw

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HA

70

62

C

Phase N

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DUT Power Supply

DUT Input

DUT

• Measures phase noise of everything in the

DUT pathway, including the input tone• Mostly cancels out source and driver

amplifier phase noise to measure DUT

contribution

Unoptimized noise floor is not desirable

(4)Marki Microwave Inc. ©

• Without using simple techniques to reduce phase noise in the signal

path, the measurement’s noise floor is too high to reasonably measure

any low phase noise component.

Holzw

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HA

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62

C P

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OSC. Power Supply

DUT Input

LO1

LO2

Driver Amp

Variable Phase Shifter

3-way Power Divider Variable

Phase Shifter

Source Oscillator

DUT

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10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000

Resid

ual P

hase N

ois

e F

loor

(dB

c/H

z)

Offset Frequency (Hz)

Residual Phase Noise Floor (dBc/Hz) vs. Offset Frequency,2 GHz Crystek Oscillator, APM-6849PA Driver Amplifier

No optimization

Filters will reduce measurement noise floor

(5)Marki Microwave Inc. ©

• Filtering unwanted oscillator spurs and harmonics drastically reduces noise floor.

• Even Crystal oscillators can produce high level spurs that decrease measurement

accuracy

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HA

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62

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OSC. Power Supply

DUT Input

LO1

LO2

Variable Phase Shifter

3-way Power Divider

Variable Phase Shifter

Source Oscillator

DUT

Diplexer/LPF

50 Ω

Dip

lexe

r/LP

F

50 Ω

Driver Amp

Diplexer/HPF

LPF

Addition of Filters

50 Ω

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10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000

Resid

ual P

hase N

ois

e F

loor

(dB

c/H

z)

Offset Frequency (Hz)

Residual Phase Noise Floor (dBc/Hz) vs. Offset Frequency,2 GHz Crystek Oscillator, APM-6849PA Driver Amplifier

No optimization

Filters used in Signal Path

Reducing Power supply noise

(6)Marki Microwave Inc. ©

• Minor Improvements can be made by reducing power supply noise

with a Low Noise Voltage Regulator, or with excess bypass

capacitance.

Holzw

orth

HA

70

62

C P

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ois

e A

nalyze

r

OSC. Power Supply

DUT Input

LO1

LO2

Variable Phase Shifter

3-way Power Divider

Variable Phase Shifter

Source Oscillator

DUT

Diplexer/LPF

50 Ω

Dip

lexe

r/LP

F

50 Ω

Driver Amp

Diplexer/HPF

LPF

50 Ω

LNVR used to reduce Power Supply Noise on Driver Amp

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10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000

Resid

ual P

hase N

ois

e F

loor

(dB

c/H

z)

Offset Frequency (Hz)

Residual Phase Noise Floor (dBc/Hz) vs. Offset Frequency,2 GHz Crystek Oscillator, APM-6849PA Driver Amplifier

No optimization

Filters Used in Signal Path

Filters+LNVR

RF Isolators to increase spur suppression

(7)Marki Microwave Inc. ©

• RF isolators reduce reflections and isolate the desire signal frequency.

Isolators are used here to clean up LO reference paths.

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HA

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62

C P

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OSC. Power Supply

DUT Input

LO1

LO2

Variable Phase Shifter

3-way Power Divider

Variable Phase Shifter

Source Oscillator

DUT

Diplexer/LPF

50 Ω

Dip

lexe

r/LP

F

50 Ω

Driver Amp

Diplexer/HPF

LPF

50 Ω

2 GHz 2-Port Isolators

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10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000

Resid

ual P

hase N

ois

e F

loor

(dB

c/H

z)

Offset Frequency (Hz)

Residual Phase Noise Floor (dBc/Hz) vs. Offset Frequency,2 GHz Crystek Oscillator, APM-6849PA Driver Amplifier

No optimization

Filters Used in Signal Path

Filters+LNVR

Filters+LNVR+Isolators

Amplifiers add 1/f Flicker PM noise

8Marki Microwave Inc. ©

• Amplifier phase noise contribution negligible

outside ~1kHz-100kHz frequency offset.

• Higher order phase noise contributions are not

present in amplifier phase noise profile

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Phase N

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c/H

z)

Offset Frequency (Hz)

Typical Phase Noise Sources for Oscillators and Amplifiers

Typical Oscillator Phase Noise Trend

Typical Amplifier Phase Noise Trend

-10 dB/dec,

Flicker PM,

-20 dB/dec,

White FM,

-30 dB/dec,

Flicker FM,

-40 dB/dec,

Random Walk FM,

0 dB/dec,

White PM,H

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DUT Power Supply

DUT Input

Source Oscillator

Amplifier

Atten.

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HA

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62

C

Phase N

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nalyze

r

DUT Power Supply

DUT Input

Source Oscillator

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-100

-90

10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000

Phase N

ois

e (dB

c/H

z)

Offset Frequency (Hz)

Phase noise (dBc/Hz) vs. Offset Frequency, 1 GHz Carrier Frequency

1 GHz Wenzel Source Absolute Phase Noise

1 GHz Wenzel Source + ADM10026PA Absolute PhaseNoise

ADM1-0026PA Residual Phase Noise

Amplifier dut compression level optimization

(9)Marki Microwave Inc. ©

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

-10 -5 0 5 10 15

Outp

ut

Pow

er

(dB

m)

Input Power (dBm)

Output Power (dBm) vs. Input power, ADM10026PA, +7V/-0.3V Bias

ADM10026PA

Ideal

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Resid

ual P

hase N

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e (dB

c/H

z)

Offset Frequency (Hz)

ADM1-0026PA Residual Phase Noise (dBc/Hz) vs. Offset Frequency, 7V/-0.3V, F = 1 GHz

0 dBm Input

+3 dBm Input

+7 dBm Input

+13 dBm Input

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20

Outp

ut

Pow

er

(dB

m)

Input Power(dBm)

Output Power (dBm) vs. Input Power, APM-7098PA 8V/8V Bias

APM-7098PAIdeal

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Resid

ual P

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c/H

z)

Offset Frequency (Hz)

APM-7098PA Residual Phase Noise (dBc/Hz) vs. Offset Frequency, 8V/8V, F = 1 GHz

+10 dBm Input

+5 dBm Input

Series vs. Parallel amplifier phase noise

(10)Marki Microwave Inc. ©

• Amplifier phase noise adds in series and

subtracts in parallel

• 2 amps

• Parallel: -3dB

• Series: +3dB

• 4 amps

• Parallel: -6dB

• Series: +6dB

Atten.Atten.

ADM1

4-Way Power Divider

4-Way Power Divider

Parallel Config: DUT

ADM1

Atten.Atten.

ADM1 ADM1

Atten.Atten.

ADM1

Series Config: DUT

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100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000

Resid

ual P

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e (dB

c/H

z)

Offset Frequency (Hz)

Residual Phase Noise vs. Offset Frequency, Single ADM1, 4 in Series, and 4 in Parallel; F = 1 GHz

Single ADM1

4 ADM1s in Series

4 ADM1s in Parallel

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10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000

Phase N

ois

e (dB

c/H

z)

Offset Frequency (Hz)

Phase Noise (dBc/Hz) vs. Offset Frequency, F = 1 GHz

Crystek 1GHz Osc. + ADM10026PAAbsolute Phase Noise

Crystek 1GHz Osc. Absolute Phase Noise

Oscillators typically dominate phase noise

(11)Marki Microwave Inc. ©

• Oscillator phase noise dominates signal phase noise in most cases, except

in ultra low phase noise applications like FMCW radar.

• Amplifier phase noise contribution is negligible unless oscillator PN is

within ~10dB of the amplifier PN.

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HA

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Phase N

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DUT Power Supply

DUT Input

Source Oscillator

Amplifier

Atten.

Holzw

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HA

70

62

C

Phase N

ois

e A

nalyze

r

DUT Power Supply

DUT Input

Source Oscillator

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-90

-80

-70

10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000

Phase N

ois

e (dB

c/H

z)

Offset Frequency (Hz)

Phase noise (dBc/Hz) vs. Offset Frequency, F = 1 GHz

1 GHz Wenzel Source Absolute Phase Noise

1 GHz Wenzel Source + ADM10026PAAbsolute Phase NoiseADM1-0026PA Residual Phase Noise

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Phase N

ois

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c/H

z)

Offset Frequency (Hz)

Phase Noise (dBc/Hz) vs. Offset Frequency, F = 1 GHz

Wiltron 69347A Absolute PhaseNoiseWiltron 69347A + ADM10026PAAbsolute Phase Noise

Object 1 at

Object 2 at Mag

nit

ud

e

Frequency

FMCW Spectrum of Two Objects at Small

Marki Microwave’s Low Phase noise amplifiers

Marki Microwave Inc. © 12

Empower our customers to design faster, simplify production, eliminate complexity, and shatter

performance barriers

Positive Only Low Phase Noise Amps• High power for high linearity

• High gain

• Surface mount, bare die, and connectorized module For More Information• Tech Notes

• Videos

• support@markimicrowave.com

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Offset Frequency (Hz)

Phase Noise (dBc/Hz) vs. Offset Frequency; 4 GHz Carrier Frequency, 6V/6V Bias, +15 dBm Input Power

-170 dBc/Hz @ 10 kHz Offset

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APM-7099!

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