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Abstract

A dual-loop phase-locking circuit combines a conventional phase-frequency-detector (PFD) and frequency-divider based first loop to lock an output signal frequency to a multiple of a reference signal frequency within a first loop bandwidth BW1 with a second loop to simultaneously lock the output signal phase to a second signal independently locked to the same multiple of the reference signal. The second loop integrates the phase error between the output signal and the second signal, and applies an offset at the PFD output in the first loop to reduce the first loop phase errors within a second loop bandwidth BW2 (1). The first loop bandwidth BW1 can be optimized for overall phase-noise performance of the output signal while retaining the excellent capture and hold characteristics of that loop's topology. The second loop provides superior carrier-frequency phase alignment between the output signal and second signal. The output and second signal may therefore be configured as inputs to systems that require highly coherent carrier signals with de-correlated phase-noise such as phase-noise measurement systems or phase-noise cancellation systems.

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First Claim