SHF Communication Technologies AG
Wilhelm-von-Siemens-Str. 23D • 12277 Berlin • Germany
Phone +49 30 772051-0 • Fax +49 30 7531078
E-Mail: sales@shf-communication.com • Web: http://www.shf-communication.com

Datasheet
SHF 78210 E
Synthesized Clock Generator

SHF reserves the right to change specifications and design without notice – SHF 78210 E - V002 – Nov 09, 2018

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Description
The Synthesized Clock Generator SHF 78210 E is designed to provide our BERT system customers witha suitable internal clock source at reasonable cost. It is a field replaceable plug-in module which needs tobe installed in an SHF mainframe. Together with other plug-in modules from this instruments series, amodular and scalable measurement system can be put together.
It features a wide frequency range from 0.625 to 40 GHz with a 1 kHz resolution, a large output power
range variable from –10 dBm to +8 dBm. The output power can be adjusted in 0.1 dB steps.
The clock source generates clock signals with low jitter and low phase noise. For frequencies above
10 GHz, additional band-pass filtering ensures low harmonic levels. Below 10 GHz, short rise time clock
signals are generated resulting in an increased level of higher-order harmonics.
The jitter injection functionality is integrated for jitter stress test applications. Arbitrary jitter types may be
applied to the clock signal by connecting an external signal source to the modulation input, enabling
various test scenarios such as compliance testing.
An additional trigger output provides a trigger signal whose frequency can be switched to a quarter orhalf the output frequency.

Block Diagram
Jitter Injection ON/OFFModulation InfCLK
Synthesizer
Module10 MHz Ref Out10 MHz Ref In

RF OutfCLK = 0.625 to 40 GHz

Jitter Injection
ModulefCLK /NTrigger OutFeatures

Output clock frequency ranges from fCLK = 0.625 to 40 GHz with 1 kHz resolution



Output power adjustable from –10 to +8 dBm with 0.1 dB resolution

External jitter modulation using an external signal source such as SHF 19120 AWG

Supports three spread-spectrum clocking (SSC) modes10 MHz reference input and output for phase locking to other instrumentsRemote programming interface for automated measurements

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Ease of Use
The SHF 78210 E is operated inside an SHF mainframe and controlled by an external computer. Everysystem comes along with the intuitive, easy to use SHF Control Center. It provides the interface forchanging the device parameters, see screenshot below.
Additionally, the instrument may be programmed remotely over the Ethernet connection for automatedtests and measurements. Please refer to the SHF BERT Programming Manual.
Note that SHF also offers the compact standalone Synthesized Clock Generator SHF 78120 D. Please
visit www.shf-communication.com for further details.

SHF Control Center GUI

SHF reserves the right to change specifications and design without notice – SHF 78210 E - V002 – Nov 09, 2018

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Specifications
Parameter

Symbol

Unit

Min.

Typ.

Max.

CommentfCLK

GHz

0.625

Frequency Resolution

kHz1

Frequency Accuracy

ppb–1000+1000

Using internal reference

Frequency Stability

ppb–50+50

Ambient
temperature 21°C

Frequency Stability Aging

ppb–500+500

per yeardBm–10+8Output Power Resolution

dB

0.1

Output Power Accuracy

dB–1

Clock Output (RF Out)Operating Frequency

Output Power Level

Pout

401Output Power Temperature
DriftdB/°C

0.1

Harmonics/Spurious Signals

dBc

–20

Phase Noise

Jitter (RMS)

JRMS

fs400

ΩOutput Impedance

For fCLK ≥ 10 GHz;
On scope display (not1deconvolved)

50

Connector
Parameter

For fCLK ≥ 10 GHz
fCLK = 10 GHz
1 kHz offset
10 kHz offset
100 kHz offset
1 MHz offset

–90
–92
–85
–109

dBc/HzAmbient
temperature 21°C

1.85 mm (V) male
Symbol

Unit

Min.

Typ.

Max.

Frequency

GHz0.15625

20

Output Amplitude

mVpp400

1000

Output ImpedanceΩCommentTrigger OutConnector

150
SMA female

Measured with Agilent 86100A, 70 GHz sampling head and precision time base triggered by Trigger Output.

SHF reserves the right to change specifications and design without notice – SHF 78210 E - V002 – Nov 09, 2018

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External Jitter Injection
Modulation Frequency

MHz0.51000

Modulation Amplitude

mVpp

01200

Jitter Amplitude

ps

050

Input ImpedanceΩ

Peak-to-peak

50Connector

SMA female

Spread Spectrum Clocking
Modulation Frequency

Hz10100 kDeviation

ppm

020,000

Up/down/center

10 MHz Ref Input
Reference Frequency

frefMHzAmplitude

Vpp

Input Impedance

Ω100.2

3.3
50Connector

SMA female

10 MHz Ref Output (using internal reference setting)

2Reference Frequency

MHz10Amplitude

Vpp

Output ImpedanceΩFrequency Accuracy

ppb–1000+1000

Frequency Stability

ppb–50+50

Ambient
temperature 21°C

Frequency Stability Aging

ppb–500+500

per year

0.850Connector

SMA female

GeneralPower Consumption

WWeightkg

Operating Temperature°C

25

Power supplied by SHF
Mainframe

35

Ambient temperature

4102

The specifications in this datasheet are only valid if the internal reference is activated. If the externalreference setting is activated the signal at Ref In is fed through to Ref Out. In this case the parameters
frequency, stability and amplitude depend on the Ref In signal.
SHF reserves the right to change specifications and design without notice – SHF 78210 E - V002 – Nov 09, 2018

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Typical Output Waveforms

16 GHz clock output at 4 dBm

20 GHz clock output at 4 dBm

28 GHz clock output at 4 dBm

32 GHz clock output at 4 dBm

Note that for clock frequencies above 10 GHz, the signal is band-pass filtered to achieve low harmonics
and a nearly pure sine wave. Below 10 GHz, however, the clock signals are amplified with subsequent
amplitude clipping to shorten the rise time. In the frequency range below 10 GHz, this generates
noticeable higher-order harmonics. The SHF 78210 E is optimized for clock source applications incombination with SHF BERT instruments, where a short rise time is preferred.

Output Amplitude
The output amplitude can be varied from -10 to +8 dBm. By default, the amplitude is software-limited to+4 dBm to prevent damage on connected devices. If required the instrument can be configured to set theamplitude to the available hardware maximum of +8 dBm.
For clock frequencies above 10 GHz, the amplitude value in dBm, 𝑃𝑑𝐵𝑚 , can be converted from and to 𝑉𝑝𝑝using the following equations which are valid in a 50 Ω system:

𝑃𝑑𝐵𝑚 = 20 log10 (𝑉𝑝𝑝 ) + 4(Eq. 1)

𝑉𝑝𝑝 = 10(𝑃𝑑𝐵𝑚−4)/20.

(Eq. 2)

SHF reserves the right to change specifications and design without notice – SHF 78210 E - V002 – Nov 09, 2018

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Note that below 10 GHz, the measured 𝑉𝑝𝑝 will be slightly smaller than the value calculated from (Eq. 2)
since the clock signals in that frequency range contain higher order harmonics rather than being singletone sine waves.

External Jitter Injection
For additional flexibility, arbitrary jitter modulation may be applied to the high-speed clock signal. Jitter is
injected by connecting a signal source such as an arbitrary waveform generator to the external modulation
input. The maximum jitter amplitude is 50 ps peak-to-peak with a modulation bandwidth of up to 1 GHz. As
an example, the jitter amplitude of 50 ps corresponds to a relative jitter amplitude of 1.6 unit intervals (UI)
at a bit rate of 32 Gbit/s.
The jitter amplitude is calibrated by measuring the modulation sidebands on a spectrum analyzer.
In combination with an SHF Bit Pattern Generator and an Error Analyzer, the SHF 78210 E enables a test
solution for jitter tolerance tests as required by many telecommunication standards such as 100G Ethernet
and 40 GBit/s OTN, FibreChannel, InfiniBand, PCI Express®, and Serial ATA. For further details pleaserefer to the SHF application note „Jitter Injection using the Multi- Channel BPG“, available online atwww.shf-communication.com.

Typical Jittered Signal Waveforms
The external modulation input can be driven by a function generator such as the Agilent 332XX family offunction / arbitrary waveform generators (AWG). The waveform characteristics of the AWG determine thejitter type.

Sine Wave on Modulation Input
SHF 78210 E

AWG Setting
Waveform
Frequency
Amplitude

Sinusoidal jitter on 28 GHz clock.
Sine wave
100 kHz
70 mVpp InfiniBand is a registered trademark of the InfiniBand Trade Association. PCI Express is a registeredtrademark of Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG).
SHF reserves the right to change specifications and design without notice – SHF 78210 E - V002 – Nov 09, 2018

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Gaussian-Distributed Noise on Modulation Input
SHF 78210 E

Random jitter on 28 GHz clock.
AWG Setting
Waveform:
Amplitude:

Noise
70 mVpp

Square Waveform on Modulation Input
SHF 78210 E

Peak-to-peak jitter on 28 GHz clock.
AWG Setting
Waveform:
Frequency:
Amplitude:

Square100 kHz
70 mVppSpread Spectrum Clocking
To meet the regulatory demands of electromagnetic interference several high-speed bus systems use aspread spectrum clocking (SSC) method. When SSC is enabled, the instantaneous frequency of the clock
signal varies periodically with time by a small amount, i.e. the clock signal is frequency-modulated. The
figure below illustrates the SSC frequency modulation with a triangular shape.

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InstantaneousFrequency

FrequencyDeviationTime
1/Modulation Frequency

The principle of SSC is the periodic frequency modulation of a clock signal.

The key SSC parameters are the following:
fCLK

original clock frequency without SSC

δrelative frequency deviation (often given in percent or ppm, parts per million)

fjittermodulation frequency.

The parameters are directly accessible in the BERT Control Center software GUI or through remote
programming.
Depending on the relative position of the clock frequency and the frequency deviation, SSC can beclassified into three types: down, center, and up-spread. The figure below illustrates the three
configurations.

Down-SpreadCenter-Spread

Up-Spread(1+δ) fCLKFrequency(1+δ/2) fCLK
fCLK

fCLK

fCLK

(1–δ/2) fCLK

(1–δ) fCLK
1/fjitterTime

1/fjitterTimeTime

1/fjitterThree types of SSC.

SSC, effectively, broadens the spectral peak of a clock signal so that the maximum of the power spectral
density is reduced leading to less radiated emission. This is illustrated in the following spectra measured at
the output of the SHF 78210 E for a 25 GHz clock with 30 kHz modulation frequency and 0.5% deviation.
Note that SSC does not reduce the total signal power of the clock. Rather, it redistributes the clock’s spectral
components as shown in the figure below.

SHF reserves the right to change specifications and design without notice – SHF 78210 E - V002 – Nov 09, 2018

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Without SSC

With SSC

Peak Reduction

SpectralBroadening

SHF 78210 E clock spectrum with and without SSC.

SHF reserves the right to change specifications and design without notice – SHF 78210 E - V002 – Nov 09, 2018

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Mechanical Drawing

25.0

30.0

30.0
3 x 30.0

All dimensions are specified in millimeters (mm).

Input Connectors
Connector Name

Description

10 MHz Ref

External 10 MHz reference input

Modulation

External jitter modulation input

Output Connectors
Connector Name

Description

TriggerTrigger output

RFClock output

10 MHz Ref

10 MHz reference output

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