Wide band VCO

Just a thought.
Is it possible to achieve very wide band frequency range by dividing
or multiplying the sythesizer frequency? Let's say a PLL generates
1Ghz - 1.5Ghz frequency. Maybe we could divide the frequency by 2 to
achieve 500MHz to 750MHz or multiply by 2 to obtain 2GHZ - 3GHZ? And
the divider is programmable.

 

Yes.

Kevin Aylward

http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.

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Understanding, is itself an emotion, i.e. a feeling.
Emotions or feelings can only be "understood" by
consciousness. "Understanding" consciousness can
therefore only be understood by consciousness itself,
therefore the "hard problem" of consciousness, is
intrinsically unsolvable.

Physics is proven incomplete, that is, no
understanding of the parts of a system can
explain all aspects of the whole of such system.

 

You can also use a higher frequency VCO and a mixer : For example you can
find a 4-8GHz VCO, then mixing it with a fixed 4GHz frequency you got a
0-4GHz signal... (with some filtering...)

Cheers,
Robert Lacoste - ALCIOM : The mixed signals experts
http://www.alciom.com

 

You might want to look at YIG-tuned microwave oscillators

http://www.elva-1.spb.ru/products/microwave/yig-osc.html

where you can get a 4:1 frequency range. When I last looked, some
fifteen years ago, these were bulky and expensive devices that used
quite a lot of power, but they did offer a tuning range comfortably
wider than the 2:1 you want to start feeding a chain of dividers, and
the output is fairly clean, as tunable oscillators go.

 

Possible to get a frequency multiplier circuit or IC?
If programmable divider can be programmed to 0.5, it would be equivalent to x2.

 

I don't know. I looked at the yig-based tuneable oscillators, but
never got the chance to buy one and play with it. The URL I posted
listed oscillators going appreciably above your area of interest, so I
would have through that a frequency mutiplier would be unnecessary -
if you can get a reasonably clean oscillator at the highest frequency
you need, this should give you the least noisy, that is most
jitter-free, outputs from your dividers at the lower frequencies you
want.