Analysis of single events effects on monolithic PLL frequency synthesizers

Frequency synthesizers are fundamental building blocks in radio frequency, communications, and analog signal processing for generating high accuracy oscillatory signals. In general, the frequency synthesizer is the most sensitive block in the system since many of the signal processing elements such as clock, filters, and up/down converters depend on the synthesizer generating a clean sinusoidal signal at the given frequency. For radiation environments, the response and the sensitivity of the phase-lock loop (PLL) and the synthesizer block is very critical. This paper examines the effect of single events (SEE) radiation on the PLL locking and steady state response. The PLL circuits operating at 2.4 GHZ were designed and fabricated using a 0.13 ~m CMOS process This paper presents the experimental and simulations results on the SEE radiation effects on the PLL. Index Terms--Hold-in range, lock-in range, phase locked loop (PLL), radiation effects, single event effect (SEE), VCO.