
DAC5674
SLWS148A SEPTEMBER 2003 REVISED OCTOBER 2005
www.ti.com
21
PFD
ref
ICO
Fref
Fvco
LPF
R
C1
C2
DAC5674
External Loop Filter
PN
Figure 22. PLL Functional Block Diagram
Table 5. DAC5674 Evaluation Board PLL Loop Filter Parameters
N(1)
PHASE MARGIN (DEGREES)
BANDWIDTH (MHZ)
2
60
1.6
4
71
1.4
8
77
1
16
78
0.7
32
74
0.4
(1) N is the VCO divide-down factor from prescale and interpolation.
Non-Harmonic Clock-Related Spurious Signals
In interpolating DACs, imperfect isolation between the digital and DAC clock circuits generates spurious signals
at frequencies related to the DAC clock rate. The digital interpolation filters in these DACs run at subharmonic
frequencies of the output rate clock, where these frequencies are fDAC/2 , N = 1,2. For example, for 2×
interpolation only one interpolation filter runs at fDAC/2; for 4× interpolation, on the other hand, two interpolation
filters run at fDAC/2 and fDAC/4. These lower-speed clocks for the interpolation filter mix with the DAC clock
circuit and create spurious images of the wanted signal and second Nyquist-zone image at offsets of fDAC/2N.
Figure 23 shows the location of the largest spurious signals for 4
× interpolation for a real signal. With a real
output signal, there is no distinction between negative and positive frequencies, and therefore the signals that
appear at negative frequencies wrap and potentially fall near the wanted signal. In particular, at IFs near fDAC/8,
fDAC/4, and fDAC × 3/4 (50 MHz, 100 MHz, and 150 MHz in this example), the mixing effect results in spurious
signals falling near the wanted signal, which may present a problem depending on the system application. For
a frequency-symmetric signal (such as a single WCDMA or CDMA carrier), operating at exactly fDAC/8, fDAC/4
and fDAC × 3/4, the spurious signal falls completely inside the wanted signal, which produces a clean spectrum
but may result in degradation of the signal quality.