[time-nuts] CPLDs for clock dividers

Kasper Pedersen time-nuts at kasperkp.dk
Wed Feb 3 20:04:02 UTC 2010


On 02/03/2010 07:59 PM, Matt Ettus wrote:
> Does anyone have any experience using CPLDs for very low phase noise
> dividers?  You can get an XC9536XL from Xilinx for around $1, and I
> thought it would make a good divide by 2 through 10 device.

9500XL (3.3V) is, I believe, similar to 9500 (5V). A downside to the way 
the 9500 is built is the rather high static power consumption, and that 
the static current consumption is dependent on the internal state of the 
signals. If you have a single divider in a part it is not a problem. But 
if you divide by 2 and 10, the '2' output will be modulated by the 
divide-by-10 in ways one may not expect since the input threshold of the 
clock signal changes.

An alternative I like better is XCR3032XL, which is entirely CMOS. No 
current-source-driven AND/OR, with a static current consumption that 
isn't dependent on the internal state. Thus, the internal state does not 
move the threshold of the global clock around.
Output slew rate is faster than 1ns when driving into 150 ohm.

/Kasper Pedersen



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