Researchers from the 6G-REFERENCE project partners Ericsson and the University of Twente presented new research on frequency synthesis at the European Solid-State Electronics Research Conference (ESSERC 2026) in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
The paper, “An 18-22 GHz Direct 983 MHz Crystal Sinewave Sampling Fractional-N PLL”, was explained by Erwin Hardeveld, Researcher at the University of Twente, during the RF and mm-Wave Frequency Synthesis session on Wednesday, 9 September, as part of the conference’s programme on circuit and design aspects, semiconductor technologies, and integrated technologies and devices, under the Frequency Generation Circuits track.
This work addresses frequency generation for high-frequency applications. The presented phase-locked loop (PLL) uses a new high-frequency crystal from Murata, operating at around 1 GHz, compared with the 10-100 MHz frequencies commonly used today. The proposed architecture directly samples the crystal’s sinewave and exploits the shape of the waveform to achieve very low unwanted fractional spurious products, below -65 dBc at 20 GHz.
Collaboration between the University of Twente and Ericsson
The research is the result of a joint collaboration between researchers from the University of Twente and Ericsson, bringing together expertise from academia and industry. The paper is co-authored by Erwin Hardeveld, Staffan Ek, Robin Lohuis, Pallavi Paliwal and Eric Klumperink.
Presented by Erwin Hardeveld, this scientific publication was well received by the conference audience, with senior industry participants commenting: “Nice presentation, and very elegant architecture.”
ESSERC 2026: European Solid-State Electronics Research Conference
The European Solid-State Electronics Research Conference (ESSERC 2026) is a leading event bringing together academic and industrial researchers to showcase the latest advances in solid-state electronics, including semiconductor technologies, integrated circuits, radio frequency and mm-Wave circuits, and frequency synthesis.
The 2026 edition was hosted in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on 7-10 September.
