National Semiconductor single-chip PLL and VCO boasts low phase noise

National Semiconductor Corporation has introduced the LMX2531, a monolithic phase-locked loop and voltage-controlled oscillator (PLL + VCO) integrated circuit with a frequency range of 765 MHz to 2790 MHz and a noise floor better than -160 dBc/Hz.

The chip is based on a delta sigma Fractional-N PLL architecture that National said offers phase noise and spurious performance advantages over more conventional Integer-N approaches. It’s available in a 36-pin LLP package.