RE: [SI-LIST] : RE: ADC jitter specs (formerly Diff clocks length matching)

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From: [email protected]
Date: Thu Apr 19 2001 - 09:18:48 PDT


While I only speak for my self, I have enjoyed the discussion between Larry
and Daniel and others. The discussion has been educational and stayed on a
technical level which I think is the intended model of this reflector.

BTW, I didn't think the spam filters were mentioned in conjunction with this
thread.

Thanks!

Aubrey Sparkman
Signal Integrity
[email protected]
(512) 723-3592

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Daniel, Erik S. [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2001 8:58 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Cc: [email protected]; Daniel, Erik S.
> Subject: [SI-LIST] : RE: ADC jitter specs (formerly Diff clocks length
> matching)
>
>
> Larry-
>
> I still maintain that phase noise and "jitter" are directly
> related as long
> as "jitter" is properly defined and the integrations are
> performed properly.
> I do not agree phase noise test sets are being obsoleted by digitizing
> scopes -- you yourself indicated the "jitter" of digitizing scopes was
> limited to ~1 ps, and the ADC and radar community have much tighter
> requirements. In addition, it is difficult to obtain a
> complete spectrum of
> phase noise with a digitizing scope. As others have pointed out in an
> earlier thread, a spectrum analyzer is a good compromize in
> some cases.
>
> I agree that we should probably desist and take the
> discussion off line, but
> ...
>
> > -->> Are you SURE that the timing jitter is not limiting you?
> > 16 bits minus
> > 13 bits = 3 bits which is a factor of 8. 8 times 10 fs = 800
> > fs or about 1
> > ps
>
> can we at least agree publicly that 8 * 10 fs = 80 fs << 1 ps
> ? :-) To
> answer your question, yes, we are fairly confident we know
> the sources of
> limiting noise and jitter is not a major contributor.
>
> - Erik
>
> ==================================================================
> Erik Daniel, Ph.D. Voice: (507) 538-5461
> Mayo Foundation Fax: (507) 284-9171
> 200 First Street SW E-mail: [email protected]
> Rochester, MN 55905 Web: www.mayo.edu/sppdg/
> ==================================================================
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Larry Miller [mailto:[email protected]]
> > Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2001 8:34 AM
> > To: 'Daniel, Erik S.'; Larry Miller
> > Cc: [email protected]
> > Subject: RE: ADC jitter specs (formerly Diff clocks length matching)
> >
> >
> > Dr Daniel,
> >
> > Replies below -->>
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Daniel, Erik S. [mailto:[email protected]]
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2001 12:06 PM
> > To: [email protected]
> > Cc: [email protected]; Daniel, Erik S.
> > Subject: Re: ADC jitter specs (formerly Diff clocks length matching)
> >
> >
> > Larry-
> >
> > Part of my confusion may have been that you were apparently
> mixing the
> > separate 10 bit 10 MHz case and the 7.5 bit 1.5 GHz case that
> > Tom mentioned.
> > Also, I do not understand why you bring the ADC amplitude
> > into it -- as is
> > evident by the equations, the LSB-limited jitter spec depends
> > only on the
> > sampled frequency and the effective number of bits, as the
> > LSB is defined
> > relative to the ADC full scale. In any event, it sounds like
> > we agree on
> > the equations.
> >
> > -->> I am sure we agree on the equations. I think we probably
> > do not agree
> > on the attainability of some of the numbers you get by just
> > assigning a
> > sampling frequency and number of bits. And the ADC full scale
> > is important
> > in a mixed digital-analog signal system because of the fixed
> > sizes of other
> > nearby noises in the system. I'm sure that Maxim would be
> > happier with a +/-
> > 1-volt input range.
> >
> > A few years ago in my pre-networking days I worked on CT
> Scanner data
> > acquisition systems (rather the other corner of the playing
> > field from what
> > we have been talking about, 24-bit dynamic range at low audio
> > frequencies)
> > and the same equations held.
> >
> > Your approach is mathematically correct, but it smacks a bit
> > of legislating
> > reality-- to me, anyway. Saying "...we require 10 fs of
> > jitter...." and
> > actually getting it are not the same thing.
> >
> > ---------------
> >
> > Regarding the followng comment:
> >
> > > [Larry Miller] -->> Yes, I get that number. And you are
> > talking p-p jitter
> > with a
> > > noise bandwidth of at least 0.75 GHz.
> >
> > --->> Sorry, gotta break this apart for discussion:
> >
> > I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "p-p jitter with a
> > noise bandwidth of
> > at least 0.75 GHz".
> >
> > By noise bandwidth I mean the upper range of frequencies
> > where the system
> > has a (possible) noise sensitivity (gain, if you like) of
> > more than 1. This
> > is an old thing from George Philbrick and Analog Devices
> > op-amp methodology.
> > (Anyone else around here remember "The Lightning Empiricist?") It is
> > directly related to the bandwidth of what you would use to
> > measure such a
> > system (like scope bandwidth) and not surprisingly is exactly
> > equivalent to
> > what you say below.
> >
> > ----------------
> > Jitter specs seems to be somewhat fleeting. I'm more
> > comfortable with jitter defined as an integration of phase
> > noise spectral
> > density over some frequency range of carrier offsets -- the
> particular
> > choice of offset frequency range is very much application
> > specific and is
> > somewhat independent of the sampled frequency.
> >
> > -->> You are in good company in this. Some oscillator
> > manufacturers, such as
> > Valpey-Fisher, use this method (with, I think, Aeroflex equipment).
> >
> > Unfortunately, the answers we got with this method never
> > matched up with
> > what we saw in our real systems in our lab (at a major
> Canadian Telco
> > manufacturer). Typically, the results from V-F were 1/10 of
> > what we saw with
> > the best oscilloscopes we had and also similarly disagreed
> > with our Time
> > Interval Analyzer (TIA) readings. Since V-F made good stuff
> > and we wanted to
> > buy it, we basically had to make our own measurements in our
> > own (jitterly)
> > way to get correlation with other manufacturers who do use jitter
> > specifications (which is most of them, actually).
> >
> > The telecommunications industry seems to have settled on
> > jitter and eye
> > openings as a way of evaluating high speed systems.
> >
> > Phase noise methods and equipment were popular in evaluating
> > radar local
> > oscillators (especially ones like YIG oscillators manufactured by
> > Watkins-Johnson, for example, and used in frequency-agile microwave
> > receivers for radar direction finders like those in the P-3 recently
> > acquired by the Chinese government).
> >
> > I do consider phase noise testing an out-of-date measurement
> > technique for
> > digital data transmission systems. I myself am out-of-date on analog
> > converters.
> >
> > ----------------
> > Typically, the high end of
> > the integration would be the clock frequency (relating to
> > deviations in
> > timing from one clock cycle to the very next one), and the
> > low end would be
> > dictated by the longest coherent time cycle required by the
> > system (relating
> > to deviations in timing from one clock cycle to another one
> > very much later
> > -- perhaps 1 millisecond => 1 kHz offset frequency for our
> > applications of
> > interest). If this integration over the desired frequency
> > range yields a
> > "jitter" that is larger than ~ 2^(-N)/(2 Pi f), then this
> > will appear as
> > broadband noise which will limit an ADC's effective number of
> > bits to less
> > than N for sampled frequencies f for that application.
> >
> > -->> "Noise bandwidth of 0.75 GHz"....
> > -->> "high end of the integration would be the clock frequency"...
> > -->> The clock frequency is 0.75 GHz
> > -->> Works for me, just two ways to get the (hopefully) same
> > answer, just
> > depends on how you hold your mouth when you say it.
> >
> > Regarding fs jitter clock sources and our results to date on the 16
> > effective bit, 350 MHz center frequency ADC system, I can't
> > tell you too
> > much as many of the details are proprietary to one of our
> > collaborators, but
> > I can tell you they have developed a custom clock source that
> > has low enough
> > jitter for the target system (again, on the order of 10 fs),
> > and system
> > demonstrations to date have shown about 13 effective bits
> at a 350 MHz
> > center frequency, believed not to be limited by timing jitter.
> > Commercially, the best low phase noise sources seem to be
> > made by Poseiden
> > (www.psi.com.au). The specs on their web page are given in
> > terms of phase
> > noise spectral density instead of jitter, as the definition
> > of "jitter" is
> > somewhat loose as I mentioned above, but integrated jitters
> > in the 10s of fs
> > are possible, again depending on your required integration band.
> >
> > -->> Are you SURE that the timing jitter is not limiting you?
> > 16 bits minus
> > 13 bits = 3 bits which is a factor of 8. 8 times 10 fs = 800
> > fs or about 1
> > ps which is about as good a clock as I ever saw (and a very
> > expensive one at
> > that). You know I had to say it...(blush)
> >
> > Regarding measurements of "jitter" of this order, I agree one
> > would never
> > try to measure it with a scope. In my opinion, the best way
> > to measure
> > phase noise is with a (aptly named) phase noise test set,
> > which measures
> > phase noise spectral density versus frequency offset from the
> > carrier for a
> > clock source input.
> >
> > -->> My problem with measuring this way is this:
> >
> > It is not directly related to what you are interested in
> for a digital
> > system. Integration always gives you a 1/f roll-off and this
> > makes it very
> > hard to see its effects.
> >
> > The clocked data input to a digital device (flip-flop, memory,
> > what-have-you) only cares about peak timing excursions. If a
> > clock violates
> > the input setup requirement (is late) or hold requirement (is
> > early) you
> > either get an outright error or, what is worse from a
> problem solving
> > viewpoint, metastability. With digital system speeds getting
> > so high, the
> > margin for error is very small, so you cannot rely on rms
> > style measurements
> > unless you have a very fault-tolerant system. An oscilloscope
> > displays what
> > you (and the circuit, to lapse into a teleological vein)
> are directly
> > interested in.
> >
> > I have one thing to say in defense of this: it works.
> > Multi-GHz systems
> > perform with vanishingly small error rates, and this is
> > necessary. Gigabit
> > and higher data systems with performance worse than 10^-13 to
> > 10^-15 error
> > rates produce errors often enough to be annoying to humans.
> >
> > Jitter numbers can vary a lot, depending upon your sampling
> > interval. You
> > can get just about any answer you want out of a TIA by
> > tweaking the data
> > acquisition parameters. However, there are standard jitter testing
> > methodologies and test setups that have evolved (like the
> > ones in the ANSI
> > and IEEE standards) and these give repeatable answers that
> > agree very well
> > with what you see on high quality test instruments, and, more
> > importantly,
> > agree with measured performance (error rates) of the
> > resulting systems.
> >
> > --------------
> >
> > Anyway, good luck with your exotic A/D. I think we have tried
> > the patience
> > of the members of this reflector enough; I see posts
> > appearing about how to
> > implement "spam filters" on the reflector. I can take a hint....
> >
> > Larry Miller
> >
> >
> >
>
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