Applications Engineering Notebook MT-200 One Technology Way • P. O. Box 9106 • Norwood, MA 02062-9106, U.S.A. • Tel: 781.329.4700 • Fax: 781.461.3113 • www.analog.com Minimizing Jitter in ADC Clock Interfaces by the Applications Engineering Group POWER SUPPLY Analog Devices, Inc. INPUT V REF DATA ANALOG OUTPUT IN THIS NOTEBOOK INPUT ADC Since jitter around the threshold region of a clock interface CLOCK FPGA INTERFACE can corrupt the dynamic performance of an analog-to- INPUT CONTROL digital converter (ADC), this notebook provides an overview of clocking considerations and jitter-reduction techniques. The Applications Engineering Notebook Educational Series TABLE OF CONTENTS Clock Input Noise.............................................................................. 2 Frequency Domain View ............................................................. 3 Time Domain View ....................................................................... 2 Phase Domain View ..................................................................... 4 Effect of Slew Rate..................................................................... 3 Solutions for Clocking Converters ............................................. 5 REVISION HISTORY 1/12—Revision 0: Initial Version Rev. 0 | Page 1 of 8 MT-200 Applications Engineering Notebook CLOCK INPUT NOISE Jitter around the threshold region of the clock interface can TIME DOMAIN VIEW corrupt the timing of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). For example, jitter can cause the ADC to capture a sample at the wrong time, resulting in false sampling of the analog input and reducing the signal to noise (SNR) ratio of the device. A reduction in jitter can be achieved in a number of different ways, including improving the clock source, filtering, frequency division, and clock circuit hardware. This document provides dV suggestions on how to improve the clock system to achieve the best possible performance from an ADC. Noise in the circuit between the clock and ADC is the root ERROR VOLTAGE cause of clock jitter. Random jitter is caused by random noise, which is distinguished by its unbounded character and follows statistical distributions. Major random noise sources include • Thermal (Johnson or Nyquist) noise is caused by Brownian ENCODE motion of the charge carriers. • Shot noise is related to the dc current flow across a Q1 potential barrier that is not continuous and smooth, but RECTANGULAR instead is the result of pulses of current caused by the BI-MODEL individual flow of carriers. NORMAL • Flicker noise occurs when a dc current is flowing. It is IDEAL 10338-001 caused by traps in semiconductors that hold carriers that Figure 1. Time Domain View of Jitter would normally constitute a dc current flow for a short period before releasing them. Clock jitter is the sample-to-sample variation of the encode • Burst, or popcorn, noise is caused by contamination and clock which includes both external and internal jitter. Full-scale crystal lattice dislocation at the surface of the silicon that SNR is jitter limited by captures and releases carriers in a random manner. S 1 SNR = rms = log(20)log(20 ) jitter N 2π tf Deterministic jitter is caused by interference that shifts the rms ana log jitter threshold in certain ways that are usually bounded by nature. For example, at 1 Ghz with 100 FS rms jitter, the SNR is 64 dB. There are three ways to view the noise in a clock signal: Viewed in the time domain, variation of the encode edge in • Time domain the x-axis direction causes a y-axis error with a magnitude • Frequency domain dependent on the rise time of the edge. Aperture jitter produces • Phase domain errors in the ADC output as shown in Figure 2. The jitter can occur internally in the ADC or externally in the sampling clock or interface circuitry. dV ΔV = × Δt dt ANALOG INPUT dV = SLOPE ΔVRMS = APERTURE JITTER ERROR dt NOMINAL HELD OUTPUT ΔtRMS = APERTURE JITTER HOLD TRACK 10338-002 Figure 2. Effects of Aperture Jitter and Sampling Clock Jitter Rev. 0 | Page 2 of 8 Applications Engineering Notebook MT-200 Figure 3 shows the effects of jitter on SNR. Five traces are the slew rate. Figure 5 shows how increasing the slew rate shown in Figure 3, each representing a different value of jitter. reduces jitter because only noises in the threshold range The x-axis is full-scale analog input frequency, and the y-axis is contribute to jitter. the SNR due to the jitter as opposed to the total ADC SNR. 200 Jitter on a clock is defined from the fSTART and fSTOP offset frequency. For example, a clock may have 200 fsec of jitter integrated from 1 kHz to fs/2 and 170 fsec of jitter integrated 150 from 10 kHz to fs/2. The integration range is dependent upon the end application. 90 100 SNR OF ADC AT 200MHz, AIN VARIES WITH CLOCK JITTER DIGITAL 85 ADC OUTPUT 84dB JITTER RMS (fs) ANALOG 80 INPUT 78dB SAMPLING 50 CLOCK 75 TIO (dB) A 50 72dB fS 70 100f 0 66dB S 0 2 4 6 65 O NOISE R O NOISE INPUT SLEW RATE (V/ns) 10338-005 200fS LT 60 60dB Figure 5. Increasing Slew Rate Reduces Jitter AIN = 200MHz 400fS SIGNA 55 FREQUENCY DOMAIN VIEW 1 EACH LINE SHOWS 50 800fS SNRjit = 20log CONSTANT RMS Close-in noise occurs in the region between the center 2πftjitter CLOCK JITTER IN fs 45 frequency of the sample clock to a single sideband (SSB) offset 100 1000 equal to half the signal bandwidth. Wideband noise extends FULL-SCALE ANALOG INPUT (MHz) 10338-003 Figure 3. As Analog Signal Increases, Clock Jitter Increases SNR from the SSB offset to ½ the bandwidth of the clock receiver. The jitter-based SNR and the effective number of bits (ENOB) are related by the equation: SNR = 6.02 N + 1.76 dB where N = ENOB. For full-scale 100 MHz input, 14-bit ENOB requires that the rms jitter be no greater than 0.125 ps or 125 fs. The equation assumes an ADC of infinite resolution where the only error is noise produced by the clock jitter. CLOSE IN NOISE 130 RMS JITTER < 1ps 0.125ps 120 IS VERY HIGH 0.25ps PERFORMANCE TO ENCODE 0.5ps TO DC WITH CLOCK BANDWIDTH 110 1ps 1 NOISE PHASE 2ps SNR = 20 log 10 2 ft 100 jitter 16 BITS TE (dB) A 90 WIDEBAND 14 BITS NOISE 10338-006 80 Figure 6. Frequency Domain View 12 BITS ENOB O NOISE R O NOISE 70 LT Multiplication in time is convolution in the frequency domain. 10 BITS 60 Therefore, any skirt on the clock is applied to the digitized SIGNA 50 signal. This increases the EVM of the signal and degrades IF SAMPLING ADCs 40 ANALOG FREQUENCY 70MHz TO 300MHz, overall performance. The amount convolved onto the sample SNR 60dB TO 80dB signal depends on the relationship of the analog frequency to 30 1 10 100 1000 the sample frequency. FULL-SCALE ANALOG INPUTFREQUENCY (MHz) 10338-004 fsignal Figure 4. Theoretical SNR and ENOB Due Jitter as a Function of Full-Scale SampledOutput = lClockSigna + )log(20 Sinewave Analog Input Frequency fclock Effect of Slew Rate Increasing the slew rate of the clock edge reduces the effects of noise and jitter by leaving the circuit less exposed. On the other hand, a faster slew rate increases the difficulty of circuit design, may cause electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues and may cause interference in other circuits. Note that an oscilloscope with very low input capacitance is needed to accurately measure Rev. 0 | Page 3 of 8 MT-200 Applications Engineering Notebook –120 The spur is at −74.1 dBc as determined by the following –120 –125 equation: 62.30 –130 +− log(2066 −= 1.74) dBc 78 –135 –10 –140 –20 –145 –30 PHASE NOISE (dBc/Hz) PHASE –150 –40 –50 –155 dBc –60 –160 10 100 1k 10k 100k 1M 10M 100M –70 FREQUENCY (Hz) –80 –90 –100 30.25 30.50 30.75 31.00 31.25 FREQUENCY (MHz) 10338-009 Figure 9. 30.62 MHz Signal when Sampled with a Noisy Clock Clock designers typically provide a phase noise, but not a jitter L specification. The phase noise specification can be converted to jitter by first determining the noise on the clock and then comparing noise to the main clock component using small angle math. DESIRED SIGNA The phase noise power is integrated by calculating the gray area PHASE PHASE NOISE NOISE in Figure 10. SKIRTS SKIRTS 10338-007 Figure 7. The Noise Convolved onto the Sampled Signal Depends on the rise Vphase_noise Relationship of the Analog Frequency to the Sample Frequency Ф ≈ run = Vmain_clock PHASE DOMAIN VIEW MODULATION ANGLE Ф Phase noise is cause by variations in the time period between MAIN each clock cycle. The end result is that the clock signal varies COMPONENT PHASE NOISE OF CLOCK COMPONENT around a fundamental frequency. This spread of frequencies OF CLOCK will degrade the ADC’s SNR. ANGULAR RATE OF ENCODE CLOCK SAMPLE INSTANT: PHASE = 0 i.e. POSITIVE GOING ANGULAR RATE OF 0 CROSSING ENCODE CLOCK INTEGRATE TO ENCODE BANDWIDTH –160 PHASE NOISE (dBc/Hz) PHASE PHASE, 10k 100k 1M 10M 100M 1G FREQUENCY AND (Hz) 10338-010 AMPLITUDE NOISE ON CLOCK Figure 10. Integrating the Noise from Close-In to the Clock Out to the 10338-008 Bandwidth of the Encode Figure 8. Phase Domain View of Jitter The height is −160 dBc and the width is 10 KHz to 245.76 MHz. In the example shown below, a spur is added to a 78 MHz Therefore, 10×log(245.7e6 − 10e3) = 83.9 dB and −160 + 83.9 dB clock at level of −66 dBc and is used to control an ADC = 76.1 dBc of integrated noise. sampling a 30.62 MHz analog signal. Rev. 0 | Page 4 of 8 Applications Engineering Notebook MT-200 6 3 PNoise = −160dBc /Hz + 10log(245.76× 10 − 10.0 × 10 = − 76.1 dBc PNoise /10= −76.1/10 −4 Jitterphase ≅2 × 10 =2 × 10 =2.217 × 10 radians for small angles Jitter 2.217× 10−4 Jitter = Phase = = .1435pS 6 2πfOsc 2π × 245.76 × 10 At different offsets from the carrier, the slope of the noise can 2 + 10 × log(30 )M=- 87.3 dBc be different.