[Legacy Report] Technological Advances for dynamic phase noise reduction in quartz crystal oscillators

#32nd #ANNUAL #SYMPOSIUM #AND #MINI-SHOW

The phase noise of an RF signal can have a significant impact on the performance of many different
applications, from phased array radars to cellular communications. Many of these applications derive the
close to carrier phase noise from a bulk acoustic wave quartz crystal oscillator operating in the range of 1 to
200 MHz, which will be multiplied through PLL or analog circuitry to the desired operating frequency. Due to
the piezo electric nature of quartz, the crystal vibrates in both the electrical and mechanical domain. As a
result, environmental vibrations are modulated into the electrical signal and manifest themselves in the form of
phase noise degradation. This has been a long standing issue for military electronics deployed in airborne,
land mobile, and naval applications, however the phenomenon now has broader impacts. A few examples
include the increased utilization of unmanned aerial vehicles, the proximity of oscillators to cooling fans in
miniaturized test equipment, and the push to place base stations at the top of cell phone towers. This
presentation will explain the basis for this modulation, and discuss methods to help reduce the impact through
crystal manufacturer methods, orientation of crystals and oscillators in applications, mechanical isolation, and
electrical cancellation of the modulation.
David Chandler received his bachelor degree from Cornell University in Applied Engineering Physics in 1992, and
Masters of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from Penn State Harrisburg in 2005. David served in the United States
Army until 1996 as a captain in a Patriot missile battalion. After departing the Army, he joined McCoy Electronics (now
part of Vectron), where he has worked for 21 years. During his tenure at Vectron he has been a quality engineer, design
engineer, and product line manager for various frequency controls products including OCXOs and GNSS disciplined
modules. He is currently product line manager for rubidium products, as well as application engineer for the precision
products group at Vectron. He has authored articles in trade magazines and IEEE.
DCHANDLER@vectron.com

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