[time-nuts] Slightly OT: interest in a four-output, ultra-low jitter, synthesizer block?

[John Ackermann N8UR]

Hi Bill --

I should have been more clear: this design will be for a simple case: 
one reference clock input, four outputs.  The chip can do all sorts of 
fancy tricks, but I'm looking for a source of four low jitter outputs 
derived from a 10 MHz external reference (not using crystal or on-board 
oscillator).  Many of the pins are unused in that configuration.

I'm not looking to make a universal carrier for the chip, but to meet 
what I suspect is a common time-nut/ham radio desire for a clean 
multi-channel synthesizer.

On 01/25/2018 02:02 PM, wb6bnq wrote:
> Hi John,
> 
> After looking at the data sheet, it seems way more involved then just 
> making a carrier board for it.  Besides the power supply requirements, 
> various design selections would dictate different circuit layouts for 
> different purposes.  Even trying to do a general purpose application 
> would possibly require having several different output configurations 
> and possibly a couple of input configurations as well.  That would imply 
> a rather detailed PCB and that chip package style is a serious pain in 
> the ass for [what amounts to] hobbyists.  So it would seem the logical 
> course would be to do serious design application and see if an in-house 
> component mounting job would be feasible.
> 
> I notice that the data sheet says the jitter specs are only best when 
> using The internal crystal oscillator frequency between 48 and 54 MHz. 
> It was unclear to me that the same would apply to using the non-crystal 
> inputs.
> 
> Perhaps you could indicate what you are attempting to do with it and how 
> you are going to accomplish your goals ?
> 
> 73....Bill....WB6BNQ
> 
> 
> John Ackermann N8UR wrote:
> 
>> After the recent discussion about Silicon Labs clock generators, I 
>> looked at their Si5340A part and think it will be useful for a ham 
>> radio project I'm working on.  While it can do other things, for my 
>> use it would use a 10 MHz input clock and generate 4 independent 
>> outputs in the range of 100 kHz to 1028 MHz.  Its jitter is <100fs, 
>> which translates to "not bad" phase noise.  Here's the data sheet if 
>> you're interested:
>>
>> http://www.silabs.com/documents/public/data-sheets/Si5341-40-D-DataSheet.pdf 
>>
>>
>> The challenge is that the chip is a 7x7 mm 44-QFN package and really 
>> wants to be put on a six-layer circuit board.  That's doable, but 
>> challenging, for home assembly.
>>
>> Rather than designing the chip into a larger circuit board, I'm 
>> thinking of doing a small "carrier" board that would include just the 
>> chip and critical bypass caps and have headers to plug into the main 
>> board. Then, you could just drop the carrier into a project-specific 
>> board and not have to worry about the complex layout and mounting.  I 
>> have a contract manufacturer who can build these up, if there's enough 
>> quantity to justify the setup cost.
>>
>> If you'd be interested acquiring in one or more of these, please drop 
>> me a line off-list (jra at febo dot com).  I don't think this will be 
>> a TAPR project, but if there's enough interest to build 25 of these 
>> carriers, I can probably make that happen.  And remember -- this is 
>> just the chip; you'll need to provide the rest of the circuit.
>>
>> John
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