[time-nuts] HP-531xx calibrator nearing completion

Charles Steinmetz csteinmetz at yandex.com
Fri Sep 8 18:15:22 EDT 2017


Chris wrote:

> Mark Sims wrote:
>> It takes a 10 MHz input,  feeds it through a sine-to square converter
>> (using a biased CMOS gate)
>
> Could you send me a snip of what that looks like?

Depending on your application and its tolerance for jitter/PN, you may 
want to use a fast analog comparator to do the initial sine-square 
conversion.  The difference in jitter/PN compared to a biased CMOS gate 
can be 10-20dB over a wide range of tau/BW (even worse if the gate has a 
Schmidt trigger input, which has WAY, WAY too much hysteresis for a 
sine-square converter).  I recommend the TLV3501, LT1719, and LT1720 out 
of extensive experience with them.  These comparators have just the 
right amount of internal hysteresis for squaring a 10MHz sine wave, with 
10MHz jitter around 10-15pSrms for jitter bandwidths from 10Hz-5MHz.

Of course, if your multiplier/divider chain has more jitter than a CMOS 
squarer, it won't make much difference which squarer you use -- so be 
careful with its design and construction.

Best regards,

Charles




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