Phase noise modeling in frequency dividers

Noise within frequency dividers can be an important detriment to the spectral purity of frequency synthesizers. A set of noise sources that can be used to predict the phase noise of such dividers as operating conditions vary has been developed, and values have been determined experimentally for one type of emitter-coupled logic (ECL) divider. This set of sources is shown to give useful predictions of the performance of the tested type, as well as of noise reported for other ECL dividers.<>