National Workshop on Recent Trends in RF and Microwave Techniques and Measurements

Abstract
One of the major issues faced by oscillator designers is the phase noise phenomenon. Phase noise is an undesirable entity that is present in all real world oscillators and signal generators. It appears in the form of phase jitter, manifest themselves as sidebands, that spread out at either side of the signal. It can cause distortion or complete loss of incoming information in traditional receivers or high bit error rates in phase modulated applications. It is therefore , necessary to understand and qualify phase noise so that its effects on higher level products are minimized.
Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

Outline
Basics of Phase Noise Classification of Noise Frequency Stability of Oscillator Classes of Frequency variations in Short term Stability Ideal and Real Frequency Source Phase Noise and Jitter Implications of phase noise in RF Systems Residual and Absolute Noise Important parameters affected in RF Systems Phase Noise Measurement Methods Phase Noise Definitions and Calculations Measurement Methods Reduction Techniques Signal sources Reduction methods
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Classification of Noise
Noise can be defined as any unwanted disturbance that interferes with the desired signal which can degrade the performance of the particular system. The primary characteristic of noise is its randomness and this is due to the physical mechanism which generate it. External Noise Sources Sources are external to the system. Internal Noise Sources Noise created with in the system itself. Three leading types of noises Thermal Noise Shot Noise Flicker Noise
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External Noise Sources

Atmospheric Noise ( up to 30MHz) Caused by lightning discharges and other natural electrical disturbances , propagated like radio waves. Extra terrestrial noise (10MHz to 1.5GHz) Space noise sources are sub divided into two: Solar Noise Sun is a large body at very high temperature (>60000C on surface), radiates very broad band frequency spectrum. Cosmic noise Stars are also at high temperature, also radiate RF noise. Industrial Noise (1MHz to 600MHz) Urban and Industrial areas, the intensity of noise made by human outstrips that created by any other source.
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Internal Noise sources

Noise is generated in the passive and active devices. Smallest detectable signal level is set by noise. In digital system the presence of random noise spikes makes it difficult to design a circuit that triggers at specific amplitude level and to reduce the probability of false triggering, noise reduction is required. These noises are random and impossible to treat on an individual basis, but easy to observe and describe statistically.

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

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Thermal Noise
Most fundamental source of noise and is present in all systems(active and passive), but resistors are major contributors. At any temperature above absolute zero , the electrons and other charges in the materials of the circuit will have a random motion. Any movement of charge give rise to current , in the presence of resistance a voltage is generated. This form of noise was thoroughly studied by J.B Johnson 1982 and is often termed Johnson noise. It is dependent on temperature, it is referred as thermal noise. The frequency content is spread equally through out the spectrum, designated as white noise.
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Time Domain
July 13, 2012 VSSC/ISRO

Frequency Domain
9

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

Thermal noise current observed when

a) Standard 50

resistor is short circuited

b) AC connected

across a 50 noise free resistor

c) AC connected

across a 50 normal resistor

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Thermal Noise Power

Thermal noise power in a conductor is proportional to the absolute temperature and bandwidth of the measuring system. Pn T x BW = KTB

where K = Boltzmanns constant(1.38 x 10-23 J/ K) T = Absolute Temperature in degree Kelvin = 273 + T0C BW(B) = Bandwidth in Hz At room temperature of 170C (2900K) for 1.0 Hz BW Pn = -174dBm/Hz -174dBm is the minimum noise level that is practically achievable, for further reduction the temperature is to be lowered.
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Noise Power of Resistor

V 2 V 2 Vn 1 Pn = = = RL R 4 R V n2 = Pn 4 R = 4 KTBR Vn = 4 KTBR
2

Normal resistance replaced with noise Equivalent Circuit of a resistor as a noise free R and noise source vn . generator Assumptions RL is noiseless RL is equal to R for maximum power transfer. The available noise power is the power that can be supplied by a resistive source when it is feeding a noiseless resistive load equal to the source resistance.
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Cont..
Vn = 4 KTBR

The ways to reduce thermal noise contents are Reduce the temperature of operation Reduce the value of resistor Reduce the Bandwidth Thermal noise is only generated by the real part of any impedance ie resistor. The imaginary part does not generate noise.

Equivalent Circuit of a resistor as a noise generator

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Shot Noise
Most important source of noise in active devices, particularly noticeable in semiconductor devices such as tunnel junctions, schottky barrier diodes and P-N junctions. Arises from random flow of carriers through a potential barrier. The current carriers even under dc conditions are not moving in a continuous flow since the distance they travel is somewhat different for each carrier, because of their random motion. Power spectrum is flat with frequency. The name shot noise is derived from the fact that when driving a speaker, excessive shot noise sounds like a shower of lead shot falling on a metallic surface.
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Cont
Shot noise in a diode is

i noise =

2 q I dc BW

q = charge of an electron(1.6 x 10-19 coulomb) Idc = diode dc current (amperes) BW = Band Width of frequencies involved(Hz) Difficult to calculate for complete transistor, depends on the currents in the emitter-base and collector-base diodes. Device manufactures often specify an equivalent noise resistance Resistance value that produces the same amount of the noise as the devices shot noise when applied to the thermal noise of Vn.
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Flicker Noise
It is thought to be associated with traps in the emitter depletion layer which capture and release carriers at different frequency rates. Noise power density falls with increasing frequency, its effect is important at low frequencies up to few KHz only. It is also known as excess noise or 1/f noise or pink noise. This can be represented either as a voltage or current source. The slope of the spectrum is often expressed in dB/decade or dB /octave. Traps associated with contamination and crystal defects in the emitter base depletion layer causes this noise. These traps capture and release carriers in a random fashion. The time constants associated with the process produce a noise signal at low frequencies.
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Overall Noise Intensity Vs Frequency Curve

At Low frequency, Flicker noise (excess noise) is dominant. At Mid frequency range, shot noise and thermal noise are predominant. At high frequency, noise increases because of devices cut-off frequency.

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Frequency Stability of Oscillator

Frequency is the number of cycles in one second. Perfect oscillator produces amplitude and phase which repeat exactly each cycle. Frequency stability is the ability of the signal to repeat its period throughout a specified period of time, but the noise sources affect the oscillator to cause small random perturbations in the output from cycle to cycle, which causes frequency instability. Stability is defined by the parameters : Long term stability: describes the variation in signal frequency over long periods hours , days or even months. Short term stability: refers to the variation that occur over time periods of a few seconds or less.

Long term Stability

Slow change in average frequency that occur over long time periods, due to secular changes in the resonator. It is usually expressed as a ratio , f/f for a given period of time hours , days or even months. It is also known as frequency drift and is usually linear or some times exponential. Specification
Long term stability =1 x 10-6 per year

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Short term Stability

Instantaneous frequency variations around the nominal frequency that occur over time periods of a few seconds or less. It refers to changes in frequency which cant be described as offset or drift but are observed as random and/or periodic fluctuations about a mean. Specifications Short term stability = 1 x 10-9 per second

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Classes of Frequency variations in Short term Stability

There are two classes of frequency variations : Discrete Signals Appear as distinct components, called as spurious signals. Related to known phenomena in the signal source such as power line frequency, vibration frequencies or mixer products. Random Signals

Appear as random phase fluctuations and called as phase noise. The source of random noise in an oscillator includes thermal noise, shot noise and flicker noise.
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Phase Noise Origins

A sine wave at a particular fundamental frequency may be perturbed for brief occurrences by noise and generate a new signal of an instantaneous frequency slightly different from the fundamental frequency, called frequency variations or fluctuation. Frequency is the rate of change in phase of a sine wave. In real circuits frequency fluctuations experienced by the signal can be related to phase fluctuations, and is rather easily measurable quantity. The term most commonly used to describe the randomness quality of the phase fluctuations is phase noise.
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Phasor representation of phase noise

Represented by a vector with length proportional to amplitude rotating about the origin at oscillator frequency. At the tip of the vector a randomly directed vector represents the oscillator noise.
Phasor representation of additive noise contribution

AM components

FM components

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Ideal Frequency Source

Ideal frequency source is a pure sine wave carrier. It is represented by
where V(t) = VO sin(2f0 t) VO = nominal amplitude f0 = nominal frequency

In frequency domain this represents a signal with all energy at a single spectral line.

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Real frequency Source

In real world unwanted amplitude and frequency fluctuations are present on the signal. Real sinusoidal signal is represented by V(t ) =[ VO+(t)]sin(2 fOt+( t))
where ( t) = Amplitude fluctuation (AM noise) (t) = Phase fluctuation (Phase noise) VO = nominal amplitude fO = nominal frequency

Oscillators operate in saturation, AM noise component is 20dB lower than the phase noise component , so is neglected.
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Phase Noise in terms of Power Spectral Density

Spectral density describes the energy distribution as a continuous function, expressed in units of energy within a given bandwidth. The short-term instabilities are measured as low-level phase modulation of the carrier. Four units used to quantify the spectral density.
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Phase Noise
The phase noise manifest themselves over different offset frequency ranges and the extent to which they are present depends on the oscillator design and component technology. Often the requirements for low phase noise conflict with those for other characteristics. Eg: Widening the frequency pull range for VCXO will typically worsen the phase noise.
* RBW 300 Hz * VBW 3 Hz

Ref
10

10 dBm

Att

40 dB

SWT 190 s

Marker 2 [T1 ] -70.16 dBm 1.039974200 GHz Marker 1 [T1 ] -3.75 1.039989200 Marker 3 [T1 ] -68.91 1.040004200

0 1 AP CLRWR

dBm GHz dBm GHz

*
A

-10

-20

-30 PRN -40

-50

-60

2
-70

-80

-90

Center 1.0399892 GHz

10 kHz/

Span 100 kHz

Date:

1.JAN.2000

02:54:22

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Phase Noise and Phase Jitter

Two ways of describing effectively the same parameter, choice depends upon the application. Phase noise describes the performance in the frequency domain, measured in dBc/Hz at a given offset from the carrier in 1 Hz bandwidth and used in RF carrier applications. Phase jitter describes the performance in the time domain, measured in radians. This indicates the angular jitter from the steady carrier. Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) systems is interested in phase jitter.
phase noise -10MHz TCXO Offset Phase Noise at 25C (typ.) at 10MHz 10Hz 100Hz 1kHz 10kHz 100kHz SSB Phase Noise -90dBc/Hz -120dBc/Hz -135dBc/Hz -150dBc/Hz -155dBc/Hz

Specification Integrated Phase Jitter RMS (12kHz to 20MHz) typ. 1ps

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Phase Jitter and Time Jitter

o It is possible to quote phase jitter in two formats.
Phase Jitter
Normally quoted in RMS radians (less commonly in degrees) and widely used in applications where the angular or phase element is important typically RF modulation.

Time Jitter
Used for clocks where the phase jitter in terms of time difference is required. It can be RMS, peak or peak to peak time difference often measured in picoseconds.

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Phase Noise in RF Systems

In communication systems signal sources are required as transmitter carrier as well as local oscillators for frequency conversion. With the increased usage of spectrum the permissible tolerance on the nominal frequency of signal source is continually reduced. For single frequency operation crystal oscillator followed by amplifiers and frequency multiplying stages are used. For manual or remote accurate selection of frequencies, frequency synthesizers are normally specified. Majority of the high capacity communications use angle modulation.
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Absolute and Residual Noise

Absolute Phase Noise
Total noise from an oscillator or system that generates a signal. Absolute noise measurements on the outputs signal of a system include the noise that occurs when the signal is generated and the noise added by the system signal processing devices.
Specified on sources or complete system

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Cont
Residual (Additive/Two port ) Phase noise

Noise inherent in the

device , regardless of the noise of the reference oscillator used. How much noise is added by a device if a perfect (noiseless) signal as input. Two port emphasizes the contributed nature of the devices noise.

Specified on devices or subsystems Eg: Noise of devices such as amplifiers, multipliers, mixers.

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Cont
Two-port Vs Absolute Phase Noise

Total noise present at the

output is a function of both the residual phase noise of the device and the reference oscillator noise. A system such as synthesizer has both the noises associated with.

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Important parameters affected in RF Systems

Adjacent channel rejection and transmitter signal purity are dependent on the phase noise of the oscillators used. Side band phase noise can fall into information band width, reducing the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) which limits the overall system sensitivity. Phase noise: Limits operating range of radar Degrades the quality of television pictures Limits the precision of satellite positioning Spoils the quality of data transmission

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Effect of Local Oscillator (LO) Phase Noise

Two desired signals f1 and f2 are input to frequency down conversion system . The phase noise of fLO is directly translated onto Mixer products. Filtering may resolve the larger signals mixing product f1-fLO but the smaller signals mixing product f2 fLO is no longer recoverable due to translated LO phase noise.
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Cont
LO phase noise affects receiver selectivity as well as sensitivity in a multi signal environment. Phase noise of Local oscillator signal source is a concern in frequency conversion applications where signal levels span a wide dynamic range. This degrades the system sensitivity as well as selectivity. Frequency conversion applications where phase noise is important are: Doppler Radar System Digital Communications System Analog Microwave Communications System

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Carrier Phase Noise Affects Sensitivity of a Doppler Radar System

Doppler Radars determine the velocity of a target by measuring the small shift in frequency that the return echoes have undergone. Unfortunately the return signal includes clutter along with the target echo, which is unavoidable.
If this clutter is de-correlated by the delay time difference, the

phase noise from the LO can partially or even totally mask the target signal.
So phase noise can set the minimum signal level that must be

returned by a target in order to be detectable.

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Cont..

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LO Phase Noise affects the Bit Error Rate

Majority of radio links these days use angle modulation which is affected more by phase noise. In digital communication phase noise very close to the carrier is important. In QPSK, I & Q position of the information signal on the state diagram depends on the amplitude and phase information after demodulation. Amplitude noise affects the distance from the origin while phase noise affects the angular positioning. Close in phase noise on the LO affects the system bit - error rate.
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Cont
Impact of phase noise on modulation quality e.g. 8PSK

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Phase noise importance according to frequency offset

Range of offset frequencies where phase noise is important with the applications.

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Basic Phase Noise Measurement Concept

V(t ) = V0 [1 + e(t) ]sin[2 f 0 t + ( t)] V0

A(t )
Direct spectrum

1 d (t) (t) = 0 + 2 dt
Demodulate ,then analyze

SV ( 0 f )

SA ( f )

S ( f )

S ( f ) = f 2 S ( f )

Two ways to analyze in frequency domain.

Directly in Spectrum Analyzer, measures the sum of total instabilities. Demodulate the fluctuations of the carrier and analyze in base band.

Spectral densities of phase and frequency fluctuations are directly related by the square of the offset frequency.
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Phase Noise Definition and Calculations

There are a number of ways to specify phase noise:
o Single Sideband Phase Noise (t) (dBC/Hz) o Spectral Density of Frequency Fluctuations Sf(f) ( Hz2/Hz) o Spectral

Density of Phase fluctuations (Radians2/Hz) o Two Point Allan Variance y() o Incidental Frequency Modulation f (Hz) o Incidental Phase modulation (Radians)

S(f)

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Single Sideband Phase Noise (t) (dBC/Hz)

Expressed as a ratio of signal power to noise power measured in a 1 Hz bandwidth at a given offset from the desired signal.

Power density in a Single 1 Hz Side Band L(f) = Total Signal Power

Simple and most common method. Directly measured in spectrum analyzer. The unit of dBc/Hz refer to dB below the carrier measured in a 1Hz bandwidth.

Spectral Density of Frequency Fluctuations Sf(f) in Hz2/Hz

One sided spectral distribution fluctuations per Hz bandwidth. of the frequency

Sf(f) = (frms)2 /BW frms = RMS value of a peak frequency modulation BW = Bandwidth of frms measurement This is the power spectral density of the frequency discriminators output. It is directly measured by connecting an audio spectrum analyzer to the output of a frequency discriminator whose input is the oscillator under measured.
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Spectral Density of Phase fluctuations S (f) in Radians2/Hz

It is often referred to as the spectral density and describes the energy distribution as a continuous function, expressed in units of energy per Hz bandwidth S(f) = (2rms )/BW 2rms= RMS value of peak phase modulation BW = Bandwidth used to measure rms This is the power spectral density of the phase demodulators output. It is directly measured by connecting an audio spectrum analyzer to the output of a phase demodulator whose input is the oscillator under measured.
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Two Point Allan Variance y()

Also known as short term stability, a time domain measure of oscillator instability. Directly measured using a frequency counter to repetitively measure the oscillator frequency over a time period (gate time). The Allan variance is the expected value of the RMS change in frequency with each sample normalized by the oscillator frequency. seconds stability Allan Variance for 10MHz OCXO -10
0.01 0.1 1.0 1x10 5x10 -11 1x10-11

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Incidental Frequency Modulation f in Hz

Always specified with a lower and upper frequency limit. Often used to specify overall oscillator instability, generally in FM receivers where the video pass band is the frequency limit. Calculated by taking the square root of the spectral density of the frequency fluctuations integrated from a lower frequency limit to an upper frequency limit.

f =

S ( f ) df
f fa

fb

Directly measured by passing the output of a frequency discriminator whose input is the oscillator under test, through a band pass filter and determining the RMS frequency variation.
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Incidental Phase modulation in Radians

This is a measure of the total RMS phase instability over a band of offset frequencies. Preferred for phase modulated signals, since it provides a better measure of overall oscillator instability. Calculated by taking the square root of the spectral density of the phase fluctuations integrated from lower frequency limit to an upper frequency limit.

S ( f ) df
fa

fb

Directly measured by passing the output of a phase discriminator whose input is the oscillator under test, through a band pass filter and determining the RMS phase variation.
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Phase Noise Measurement Methods

There are three fundamental ways to measure these perturbations of the signal
Direct Spectrum Measurement
Spectrum Analyzer Method

Heterodyne Frequency Measurement Demodulation Technique/ Carrier Removal Technique Measurement with frequency discriminator Measurement with phase detector
Phase Detector Method Phase Detector Method with PLL Controlled Reference PLL Method with Cross Correlation Delay Line Method
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Spectrum Analyzer Method

Device under test is input to the Spectrum Analyzer tuned to carrier frequency. Measure the noise amplitude, in the sidebands appearing either side of the main carrier. Measure Carrier Level LT. Measure the phase noise level LPN at carrier offset frequency foff. Phase noise level at carrier offset foff and resolution BW BIF is referred to 1Hz BW.

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Cont

LPN foff = LPN meas (foff) 10 log BNIF

Where LPN, foff L PNmeas, foff B NIF

July 13, 2012 VSSC/ISRO

phase noise level at carrier offset foff and noise bandwidth B NIF , relative to 1 mW and 1Hz bandwidth phase noise level measured with RMS detector at carrier offset foff and noise bandwidth B NIF , relative to 1 mW noise bandwidth of resolution filter
55

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

Cont
* RBW 300 Hz * VBW 3 Hz

Depending on the filter implementation, the noise bandwidth of the filter is calculated from 3dB factor with the aid of conversion factor. LPN (foff )= LPN meas (foff) 10 log BRBW +2.5dB L(foff ) = LPN (foff) LT Most spectrum analyzers feature marker functions which allow direct readout of phase noise at a given carrier offset taking into account the noise BW and correction factors.
July 13, 2012 VSSC/ISRO

Ref
10

10 dBm

Att

40 dB

SWT 190 s

Marker 2 [T1 ] -70.16 dBm 1.039974200 GHz Marker 1 [T1 ] -3.75 1.039989200 Marker 3 [T1 ] -68.91 1.040004200

0 1 AP CLRWR

dBm GHz dBm GHz

*
A

-10

-20

-30 PRN -40

-50

-60

2
-70

-80

-90

Center 1.0399892 GHz

10 kHz/

Span 100 kHz

Date:

1.JAN.2000

02:54:22

LT LPN (foff) BRBW L (foff)

= -3.75dBm = -70.16dBm = 300Hz = -70.16 10log300 (-3.75) = -91.2dBc

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Choosing the right resolution Bandwidth

Care should be taken that the selected RBW be appropriately small. If RBW is too large, the carrier at the offset foff will not be sufficiently suppressed by the IF filter. Device Under Test (DUT) must have small frequency drift relative to the sweep time of Spectrum Analyzer. Spectrum Analyzer used for synthesizer locked oscillators rather than the free running oscillator.

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Resolution bandwidth too large, carrier suppression is insufficient

Resolution bandwidth small enough

is

Spectrum Analyzer Method

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Heterodyne Frequency Measurement

Time domain method. Down converts the signal under test to an intermediate frequency. High resolution frequency counter repeatedly counts the IF frequency, with the time period between each measurement held constant. This allows several calculations of the fractional frequency, , over the time period used. Allan Variance y () computed from which is the time domain correspondence to (f) in the frequency domain.

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Measurement with frequency discriminator

Feeds the signal under test into a frequency discriminator and monitors the output on a low frequency spectrum analyzer.

OUT FM Discriminator

Low Pass Filter Baseband Analyzer

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Phase Detector Method

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Phase Detector Method

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Phase Detector Method with PLL Controlled Reference

To maintain quadrature, PLL technique is used to correct the reference source.

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PLL Method with Cross Correlation

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Delay Line Method

A broad band FM discriminator can be constructed by splitting the RF signal into two paths. One path is fed directly to the mixer the second path is passed through a delay line.

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Comparison of Phase Noise Measurement Methods

Phase Noise measurement Method Advantage Disadvantage AM noise and phase noise cannot be separated. No carrier suppression: Restricted dynamic range Overlap of RBW filter shape at low offset Measurement accuracy limited by LO phase noise of spectrum analyzer

Direct measurement with spectrum Easy setup/easy operation No calibration necessary analyser

Phase Detector Method + PLL controlled reference

AM noise and phase noise separated Carrier suppression - high dynamic range - small offsets Noise of LO of SA of minor importance Measurement of two identical oscillators possible (3dB correction)

Complicated setup Calibration required Very complicated calibration in between PLL bandwidth

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Cont
Phase Noise measurement Method

Advantage

Disadvantage

Improvement of phase Cross correlation noise of test system / reference oscillator (up to method 20 dB) Suitable for high drifting oscillators No reference oscillator necessary AM suppression

Longer measurement time for extremely low phase noise Very complex setup

Delay line method

Complicated setup Complicated calibration Restricted measurement range

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Phase Noise Measurement Software

New generation spectrum analyzers have software option for measuring the phase noise accurately. Features
User editable sweep settings Fast residual FM/ M measurements Comprehensive marker functions Storage of results and settings Detailed screen print outs.

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Signal Sources
An oscillator signal exhibits phase noise that maybe more or less distinct. By choosing appropriate circuit configurations, it can be minimized to a certain degree but never be fully eliminated. In modern systems the carrier and local oscillator are implemented as synthesizer locked to high precision reference(10 MHz) via Phase Locked Loops (PLL).

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Cont..
Cesium atomic clock:
Highly accurate primary frequency standard. Used in National Bureau of Standards. Calibration not required.

Rubidium Gas Cell Atomic Clock:

Stable secondary frequency standard and less accurate than Cesium. Requires calibration both during manufacturing and at intervals during use. Find applications in deep space communications, satellite ranging, and Doppler radar.

GPS Based Oscillator

GPS is used to disseminate precise frequency.
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Signal Sources
Quartz crystal based oscillator Operates on piezo- electric effect is the choice of most consumer electronics. Widely used in frequency controlled applications because of their unequalled combination of high Q, stability, small size and low cost. Phase Locked Oscillator In modern systems, the Local Oscillators and Transmitter carrier frequencies are implemented as synthesizers locked to a high-precision oscillators via Phase Locked Loops (PLL).
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Phase Noise in Crystal oscillator

Crystal oscillators produce a small fraction of undesirable energy (phase noise). The response usually comprises of three distinct slopes corresponding to three primary noise generating mechanisms in the oscillator. Region A: It is flicker FM noise , magnitude is determined by the quality of crystal. Region B: It is the 1/F noise and is by the semiconductor activity. Region C: It is the white noise or broadband noise.
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Quartz Crystal Oscillators Frequency stability over Temperature and Phase Noise
Standard crystal oscillators has the frequency stability of 30ppm over temperature. Temperature compensated Crystal Oscillators(TCXOs) use a compensation voltage to correct for the crystals natural temp drift achieves 0.25ppm with lower DC power consumption. Microprocessor Controlled Crystal Oscillator (MCXOs) use a microprocessor to correct for the crystals natural temperature drifts by sensing the temperature of operation and using that data to correct the frequency of the oscillator, achieves stabilities of 0.1ppm.
Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques
July 13, 2012 VSSC/ISRO 75

Cont..
Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillators (OCXO) and Double Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillators (DOCXO) Offer the greatest stability by heating the circuitry inside the oven, the crystal stays at constant temperature. Stabilities of 1 x 10-10 over temperature are achievable but with higher foot print and DC power consumption.
Comparison of phase noise
Type of Oscillator Standard crystal Oscillator TCXO OCXO SSB phase noise -130dBc/Hz at 1 KHz offset -140dBc/Hz at 1 KHz offset -150dBc/Hz at 1KHz offset

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

July 13, 2012 VSSC/ISRO 76

Effects of Phase Noise when Frequency is Multiplied

Customers buy oscillator in the MHz region and multiply into the GHz range. Phase noise of the output signal increases by square of multiplication factor( N2 ) or 20log N in dB.
(N)
2 3 4 5 10 20 100 Degradation 20log N in dB 6 9 12 14 20 26 40

mult(foff) = (foff) + 20 log(N) in dBc/Hz

Where, mult(foff) = phase noise after multiplication as a function of carrier from offset, in dBc/Hz (foff) = phase noise of original signal as a function of carrier from offset, in dBc/Hz
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77

* RBW 1 kHz * VBW 10 Hz

Ref
0

1.8 dBm

Att

40 dB

1 * SWT 50 s

Delta 1 [T1 ] -77.38 dB 25.000000000 kHz Marker 1 [T1 ] 1.71 dBm 18.817600000 MHz

-10 1 AP CLRWR -20

Fundamental oscillator

-30

-40

-50

-60

-70

1
-80

* RBW 1 kHz * VBW 10 Hz

-90

Ref
10

15 dBm

Att

50 dB 1

* SWT 50 s

Delta 1 [T1 ] -57.81 dB 25.000000000 kHz Marker 1 [T1 ] 11.39 dBm 376.500000000 MHz

Center 18.8176 MHz

50 kHz/

Span 500 kHz

1 AP CLRWR 0

Date: 10.JUL.2012

07:36:05

-10

-20

-30

-40

1
-50

-60

20 times multiplied output

-70

-80

Center 376.501 MHz

50 kHz/

Span 500 kHz

Date: 10.JUL.2012

11:47:05

Comparison among Quartz Oscillators and Atomic Oscillators

Parameter

Quartz Oscillators
TCXO MCXO 5x 10-8 2x 10-8 3 x 10-8
(-55 to +85)

Atomic Oscillators
Rubidium 5 x 10-10 2 x 10-10 3 x 10-10
(-55 to +68)

OCXO 1 x 10-8 5x 10-9 1 x 10-9

(-55 to +85)

Cesium 2 x 10-11 0 2 x 10-11

(-28 to +65)

Accuracy (per year) Aging/Year Temp.Stab. (range,0c) Stability,y( ) (=1s) Size(cm3) Warm up Time (min) Power(W)
(at lowest temp.)

2 x 10-6 5x 10-7 5 x 10-7

(-55 to +85)

1 x 10-9 10 0.03
(to 1x10-6)

3 x 10-10 30 0.03
(to 2x10-8)

1 x 10-12 20-800 4 (to 1x10-8) 0.6 200-2,000

3 x 10-12 200-800 3
(to 5x10-10)

5 x 10-11 6,000 20
(to 2x10-11)

0.04 10-100

0.04 <1,000

20 2000-8000

30 50,000
79

Price(~$)
July 13, 2012 VSSC/ISRO

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

PLL Based Synthesizer

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

Phase Noise of PLL Based Synthesizer

There are a number of sources that sum up to form the PLL noise profile
VCO PLL Dividers Reference Source

The phase noise characteristic will also be influenced by the PLL bandwidth of the frequency locking circuitry. Within the PLL bandwidth, the phase noise corresponds to the additive noise of several PLL components such as divider, phase detector and of the multiplied reference signal. Due to the multiplying effect in the PLL, phase noise is higher than that of the reference oscillator.

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

July 13, 2012 VSSC/ISRO 81

PLL Based Synthesizer Spectrum

The Spectrum is divided into the following sub ranges Closer to carrier( upto1KHz)
Phase noise corresponds to the phase noise of the reference signal. Due to the multiplying effect , phase noise is higher than the reference signal.

Range extending to the upper limit of PLL BW(offset >1KHz)

With in the PLL BW, the phase noise is the additive noise of several PLL components such as dividers, phase detectors and multiplied reference signal.

Range outside the PLL Bandwidth

Phase noise is determined by the VCO phase noise.

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

Comparison of Phase Noise at different Loop Bandwidths

Depends on the phase noise of the VCO.

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Comparison of Phase Noise at different Loop Bandwidths

Phase noise characteristics is influenced by the PLL BW of the locking circuitry. Wide PLL Bandwidth Loop gain of the PLL is so high that the oscillator noise is reduced to the reference oscillator noise. Due to the phase rotation of the filter circuit, the phase noise is increased far from the carrier. Medium PLL Bandwidth Loop gain is not sufficient to attain the reference oscillator noise close to the carrier. The increase of the phase noise far from the carrier is much smaller than with a wide PLL bandwidth.
Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques
July 13, 2012 VSSC/ISRO 84

Cont..
Narrow PLL Bandwidth Close to the carrier, considerably higher than that with medium and wide PLL bandwidth. Phase noise far from the carrier is not degraded compared to the free running oscillator. Optimum Loop Bandwidth Maximum loop Bandwidth to achieve minimum acquiring time. Minimum loop BW for maximum suppression of reference sidebands in the output frequency spectrum. The optimum selection of loop BW for the minimum phase noise generated by the PLL.
Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques
July 13, 2012 VSSC/ISRO 85

Phase Noise Calculation For Optimum LBW

VCO phase noise at 10KHz away = -111dBC/Hz (Specification of VCO) Phase noise for the PLL locked signal = phase noise index of synthesizer + 20 log N + 10log fcomp = -210 + 20 log 260 + 10 log 4x106 Carrier frequency 1040MHz Reference 16MHz = -210 + 48.3 + 66 frequency = -95.6dBc/Hz fcomp 4MHz Phase noise degradation inside the N 260 LBW for crystal oscillator R 4 = -140dBc + 20 log260 Phase noise index -210dBc/Hz of Synthesizer (depends on = -91.7dBc/Hz synthesizer) Select the loop bandwidth such that the transition is smooth.
Phase noise of reference oscillator VSSC/ISRO -140dBc/Hz (depends on oscillator)

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

Phase noise in oscillator

Oscillator phase noise has two components: Phase Noise resulting from direct conversion of white noise and Flicker noise (1/f noise)
Flicker noise Region Phase Noise Computation considering components White noise

Phase Noise resulting from the changing phase of the noise sources modulating the oscillator frequency.
Power Supply Layout Considerations Vibration

Cont
Close into the carrier, flicker noise dominates. Leeson equation applies between 1/f flicker noise transition frequency(f1) and a frequency (f2) where white noise(flat) dominates.
It is a combination of loaded Q, noise factor, power and temperature. Doubling the Loaded Q improves phase noise by 6dB. Doubling the operation frequency results ^dB phase noise degradation.

For frequencies above f0/(2QL) the floor is determined by noise factor, temperature and power.
Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

Flicker noise region

Actual curve is approximated by a number of regions, each having a slope of 1/fx , where x=0n X=0 corresponds to the "white" phase noise region (slope = 0 dB/decade). x = 1 corresponds to the "flicker 1/f" phase noise region (slope = 20 dB/decade). There are also regions where x= 2, 3, 4, and these regions occur progressively closer to the carrier frequency.
VSSC/ISRO

Use devices with low flicker noise. since 9dB/Octave is dominated, reduction of circuit flicker noise is of great concern. BJTs have much lower flicker noise than FETs. Select the transistor with lowest possible noise figure and lowest fT(fT 2fosc). Also use medium power transistor with 10 times bias current as Imax.

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

Phase Noise Computation considering components

Leeson equation provides how circuit noise and circuit elements factor into the phase noise measurement.

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

Sources of noise in Frequency Synthesizer

There are a number of sources that sum up to form the PLL noise profile. Type of Frequency synthesizer : Integer PLL/Fractional PLL VCO PLL Dividers Reference Source Multiplication Power Supply Layout Considerations Vibration
Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

VCO
Good phase noise is achieved in VCO when Tuning bandwidth is small. Tuning sensitivity is low. Temperature variation is low.

PLL dividers and internal circuits

All active components, resistors inside the loop also contributes to the phase noise.

Reference Source
Inside the loop bandwidth, phase noise equals to the frequency multiplied phase noise of the crystal reference. Multiplied phase noise at a particular offset is equal to 20logN where N is the multiplication factor.
Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

Power Supply
Clean power supply is to be used to reduce the phase noise. Ideally , DC batteries will provide best performance. If DC- DC converters are powering the oscillator separate linear regulators ( Low Drop Out regulators) at the output is a good option to reduce the noise especially operating in mixed signal environment. Several chip decoupling capacitors ( Low ESR) with different range of values must be provided between the supply and ground. Decoupling near the supply pin to be ensured. RF chokes including Ferrite beads are used in the supply path. Oscillators are even tested in Faraday Cage - a shielded room to avoid external interference .
Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

Before putting LDO

After putting LDO

July 13, 2012 94

Layout
Use the standard rules followed for the RF layout like the spread ground with plated through holes are used as ground return paths. Power Supply (Vcc) and tuning voltage(Vtune) returns must be connected to the PCB ground plane. VCO ground plane must be the same as that of the PCB and therefore all VCO ground pins must be soldered direct to the printed circuit board ground plane.

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

July 13, 2012 VSSC/ISRO 95

Phase Noise Under Vibration

Vibration affects the phase noise of the crystal oscillator as in the formula Induced phase noise =20log ((acceleration sensitivity x acceleration x oscillator frequency)/(2 x vibration frequency)) Level of vibration Frequency of vibration Crystals acceleration sensitivity Oscillator output frequency Mechanical design of oscillator For Launch Vehicle applications the system has to undergo sine and random vibration (13.5grms, 20Hz to 2 KHz).
Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques
July 13, 2012 VSSC/ISRO 96

Phase noise performance in frequency multiplied carrier under vibration

Type of crystal cut: for a particular oscillator design, for a particular crystal frequency and overtone , SC-cut crystals provide the highest Q and better phase noise Crystal mounting in the Holder: 5-tie crystals generate lower phase noise under vibrating conditions than 3-tie crystals. Quality of the crystal: Crystal oscillator quality levels (MIL, industrial etc) are also contributing factors to the phase noise. For the source using multiplier techniques, cards carrying the crystal oscillators are packed in a special cavity using foams or in house fabricated silicon vibration isolators. When the systems are vibrated without foam packing we observed that sine wave oscillators, TCXOs and OCXOs exhibit poor phase noise characteristics.
Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

Before Form Packing

Before vibration

During vibration

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

Special Packing For Crystal Oscillator

Oscillator card packed with foam packing

Oscillator card packed in Silicon Vibration Isolator

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

July 13, 2012 VSSC/ISRO 99

After Form Packing

Before vibration

During vibration

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

High frequency signal is phase locked to a stable crystal oscillator of low frequency
Fractional synthesiser technique reduces the multiplication factor. In PLL the error voltage inside the the loop gets corrected, carefully selecting the loop bandwidth the vibration induced components inside the loop will get corrected..
Wider loop bandwidth to accommodate the frequency of vibration and its multiples.

This method can be adopted wherever wider loop bandwidth is possible.

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

Conclusion
Oscillator designers can work to minimize phase noise in oscillator, and system designers using the oscillators can better design their systems by choosing the correct oscillator. Outside noise and interference degrade the phase noise performance of oscillators, and engineers need to be aware of these factors so that their effects can be anticipated or avoided.

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

References
Fundamentals of Spectrum Analysis , Christophe Rauscher Low Noise Electronic System Design , C.D. Motchenbacher, J.A.Connelly Phase Noise in Signal Sources (Theory and Applications) , W.P.Robins Electronic Communication Systems , Kennedy & Davis Microwaves Made Simple: Principles and Application The Staff of the Microwave Training Institute

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO

Basics of Phase Noise, Implications, Measurement Methods and Reduction Techniques

VSSC/ISRO