[time-nuts] Re: Affordable 160 GHz Sampler

[Gerhard Hoffmann]

Am 01.09.21 um 19:42 schrieb Mike Monett:
> Conventional samplers for home brewers usually go to 1 GHz. The SD-32
> sampler for the Tektronix 11801C mainframe goes to 50 GHz. The HP 110GHz
> oscilloscope costs around $1.3 Million USD, with a 10-bit resolution. Very
> impressive.

I have a HP54750 sampling mainframe, the sampling plug-ins up to 50 GHz 
54752A and differential TDR Agilent 54754A. Quite a lot of bang per buck 
how our military colleges would formulate it. The plug-ins do also work 
in newer mainframes.

>
> I have invented a new sampling technology that promises 160 GHz bandwidth,
> yet is affordable to home experimenters. If you can afford an IPhone or
> IPad, you can afford this sampler.
>
> This technology is not pie-in-the-sky. I made a basic 5 GHz version for the
> University of Ludwigshafen, Germany, and they were very pleased with the
> results. I am attaching images of the response compared to a
> Tektronix 1502 TDR and the pcb as proof.
>
> This was the first prototype, and I have made significant improvements
> since then.
>
> I have two questions for the time-nuts group:
>
> 1. where would a sampler with this bandwidth be useful?

You said it yourself: wideband scopes, TDRs, phase detectors for 
frequency synthesizers, or spectrum/network analyzers. The 5G and 
upcoming 6G cell phone world is your oyster. Â  :-)Â Â  And car radar @ 70 GHz.

The cost projection seems optimistic given that a female-female coax 
connector barrel for 50 GHz easily costs a few hundred $$. Have you 
ordered your recent edition of the Keysight ADS software, with the right 
options?

There is a Google sponsored prototype chip design program. Not exactly 
the newest process but you might get a 10 GHz single chip solution from it.

> 2. where can I find signal sources at these frequencies to check the
> response?

I have made a design with a ADF5356 synthesizer chip that goes to 12 
GHz, but the chip has a frequency doubler and the fundamental 
suppression is a joke. A bad one.

< 
https://ez.analog.com/rf/f/q-a/536893/adf5356-doubts-about-bleeding-current-programming 
 Â Â Â  >

430 views, no answers, let alone from AD. Â Â  :-[

There is a new design based on TI LMX2594 that goes to 15 GHz without 
doubler, but I'm still fighting with the eval board software. Why can't 
I just say: have 100 MHz in pristine quality and SPI, want 14 GHz from 
eval board? I don't want to know each of the 120 registers personally, 
at least not from the start. I have made a 4layer pcb @JLCPCB with 
LMX2594 + AD/Hittite HMC541 post amplifiers. Enough power to drive high 
level ring mixers. A step towards my Timepod frequency extension.

5 boards with 4 stamp sized synthesizers + 2 test structure microstrips 
each did cost €4 plus postage. You can get some, but I still have to 
solder the 1st one.

There is a 20 GHz version of the chip with doubler + tracking filter. 
Above that, your options are few without board level design or access to 
a phemt or SiGe process.

Mike, could it be that we have met on sci.electronics.design?

And, does anybody out there have a working W&G SNA-20 to -33 spectrum 
analyzer, or the disk contents?

cheers, Gerhard