A 0.1-to-10 GHz Digital Frequency Discriminator IC with Time to Digital Converter and Adaptive Control of Frequency Division Ratio for Instantaneous Frequency Measurement

A 0.1 to 10 GHz range Digital Frequency Discriminator (DFD) using a Time to Digital Converter and an edge counter adding adaptive control of division ratios of a frequency divider is presented. Wider frequency range can be achieved by automatically control of input division ratios depending on the input frequency. The DFD, fabricated in 0.18-μm SiGe-BiCMOS, achieves measured absolute error below 0.76MHz and standard deviation below 1.9MHz-RMS within 50 ns detection time in the band from 0.1 GHz to 10 GHz.