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Excessive Spurious Content on RF Output

Category: Hardware
Product Number: ADMV4530

I am operating the Evaluation Board for the ADMV4530 and noting excessive spurs on the RF Out.

Test conditions:

   Reference IN: high precision, low noise 100MHz Wenzel OCXO.

   IF input : 2.2GHz  

   LO setting : varies. examples shown are 28.0GHz and 27.8GHz

Please see the attached screen captures showing the spurs appearing at an offset of between 1.8GHz and 2.5GHz above the LO. The spurs move with the LO frequency. The spurs also remain there when the IF signal is removed and the input port is terminated

The spurs are intermittent and do not appear immediately after LO frequency is set. The spectrum analyzer plots shown are with Trace Max on to capture all instances of the spurs. The duration of measurement was about 5 minutes. 

Honestly, I think this evaluation board might be defective, but perhaps ADI knows how to remedy this, or track down its source. When I received the board from Digikey, the tape seal on the box was intact but the ESD bag was damaged; rather suspicious.

The reason the LO and Image are so high in level is that I de-tuned the I/Q adjustment registers to make the signals more visible in case the spurs appear near them as well. In fact, closer observation of the image frequency show a mirror image of the spurs at the same offset from the LO, in the negative frequency direction.

Please advise, I think the Evaluation Board may need to be returned.