Analog Devices Inc. (ADI), a leader in high-performance semiconductors for signal-processing applications and a provider of radio frequency integrated circuits (RF IC), announced the availability of new RF prescaler circuits for a variety of applications, including point-to-point radios, very small aperture terminals (VSAT) and microwave communication systems. A prescaler is a circuit that generates an output signal related to an input signal by a fractional scale factor. Designed using ADI’s industry-leading RF and PLL (phase-locked loop) synthesizer design expertise, the ADF500x RF prescalers offer the industry’s highest performance for a fixed divide ratio of 2, 4 or 8 and can operate to 18 GHz with very low power consumption.

Using a nominal 3 V supply, the ADF500x devices have differential 100 Ω RF outputs that allow a direct interface to the differential RF inputs of ADI’s PLL products. This launch of the ADF500x series of products includes three new devices: the ADF5000 divide-by-2 prescaler; ADF5001 divide-by-4 prescaler and ADF5002 divide-by-8 prescaler.