SBIR-STTR Award

Q-DOT proposes to develop a miniature oscillator MINO) in a small (0.2" x 0.2" x 0.5"), PCMCIA-card-compatible module. The MINO will oscillate at a frequency in the range of 1-10 GH (nominally 6Ghz). The MINO is specifically designed to drive high performance analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) in advanced digital receivers. These 16-bit ADCs are characterized by 100mhz bandwidth, 100dB SNR, and 100dB SFDR. To support these ADCs, the MINO must strive to attain 1fs jitter, which exceed the best jitter performance reported to date (1.1fs)! That jitter was reported on a one-of-a-kind, rack mounted laboratory source. Achieving whale-size performance in a minnow-size package is a daunting challenge. Q-DOT has 21 years experience in the design and development of high speed, high precision data acquisition equipment (e.g. digitizers, ADCs, etc.). Q-DOT staff guided by Dr. William F. Egan, a world renowned author and frequency source designer will explore multiple approaches to attaining the MINO goals. To the extent possible, MINO will utilize IBM's advanced SiGe BiCMoS processes, including those currently in development. The core SiGe BiCMOS chip will be complemented with discrete components (e.g. low noise transistors) to improve performance. MINO will be packaged in an MCM or hybrid.

Q-DOT, Inc., proposes to develop a low-noise (10 fs - 30 fs), miniature (5 x 5 x 12.5 mm3) oscillator (MINO) for use in advanced communications and radar systems. The MINO will provide the low-noise, nominally 3 GHz clock waveform for the next generation of ADCs. These 16 bit ADCs are challenged to achieve 100 MHz bandwidth with 100 dB SNR and 100 dB SFDR. The MINO will be a dramatic advance over the state-of-the-art, rack-mounted clock oscillators available today. The MINO circuitry will be realized in IBM's SiGe HBT BiCMOS process. Q-DOT has seven years' experience developing SiGe BiCMOS circuitry for ADCs, DAC, and MMICs. The resonator is critical to the MINO's performance. The highest Q resonator available which will fit into the required 0.33 mm3 volume is a surface transversal wave (STW) resonator. RF Monolithics (RFM) is a leading manufacturer of closely related surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators and low-noise, SAW-based oscillators. RFM has demonstrated a 2.5 GHz STW resonator with Q of 2500 and will develop the STW resonator required for the MINO. The MINO will be realized first as a free-running miniature oscillator (FRMINO). A FRMINO is suitable for many applications (e.g., hand-held communications equipment). If and when the MINO's frequency needs to be stabilized and/or locked to an external source, a phase-locked loop will be closed around the FRMINO to produce a phase-locked miniature oscillator (PLMINO). The SiGe circuitry and STW resonator components will be designed and fabricated under the proposed Phase II program. These components will be packaged for bench-top use and evaluated at NIST during Phase IIIA. Given the performance demanded of these components, they will most probably need refinement, packaging and evaluation under Phase IIIB. The PLMINO may be developed concurrrently. Although PLMINO performance has not been specified, a notional development plan is presented as Phases IIIC and IIID. RFM will package either a FRMINO or PLMINO under Phase IIIE. In addition,RFM has agreed in principle to market the resulting MINO and/or a commercial version of it worldwide.

Keywords:
Mino; Oscillator; Clock; Adc; Sige; Stw; Pll