Delay chain based programmable jitter generator

In this paper, we presents a programmable jitter generator. Different from the traditional jitter generator that uses the analog phase modulation (PM) technique to generate only non-Gaussian distributed jitter components, the proposed jitter generator uses digital techniques. It consists of a voltage controlled delay chain, jitter control block, and some basic digital components. It can generate not only the non-Gaussian distributed jitter component, but also the Gaussiandistributed jitter component. In addition, almost all jitter characteristics are controllable. This jitter generator can be used in jitter tolerance test and jitter transfer function measurement. A Xilinx XC4010 FPGA chip is used to validate this design.