A fast-settling GaAs-enhanced frequency synthesizer

An indirect, phase-locked-loop (PLL), GaAs-enhanced frequency synthesizer with 700 ns loop settling time has been developed. The two-chip GaAs insertion reduced the size of an existing synthesizer from 90 in³ to only 30 in³. The 6.0 in×5.5 in.×0.9 in module contains a 400 gate GaAs programmable divider and a sample and hold (S/H) which improved the settling time by 77% and reduced the size by 67% over the current state-of-the-art synthesizer. Furthermore, the divider reduced power dissipation by 9.7 W and the S/H reduced power dissipation by 1.3 W