RF Toolbox

Phase Noise to Jitter Converter

Phase noise and jitter are two descriptions of the same phenomenon — timing uncertainty in an oscillator. Phase noise is expressed in the frequency domain (dBc/Hz at an offset), jitter in the time domain (ps RMS). This calculator converts between them and integrates a piecewise phase noise profile.

Equations & Parameters ▸
\(\sigma_t=\dfrac{1}{2\pi f_c}\sqrt{2\int_{f_{low}}^{f_{high}}\mathcal{L}(f)\,df}\quad[\text{s RMS}]\)
f_cCarrier frequency (Hz).
L(f)Single-sideband phase noise at offset f, in dBc/Hz.
f_low, f_highIntegration band. RMS jitter depends on what frequency range you integrate over.
σ_tRMS jitter = (1/(2π·f_c)) · √(2 · ∫L(f)·df). Result in ps RMS.
J_ppPeak-to-peak jitter ≈ 6–7× RMS (3–3.5σ confidence interval).
Physical constants used
cSpeed of light = 2.998×10⁸ m/s
µ₀Permeability of free space = 4π×10⁻⁷ H/m ≈ 1.2566×10⁻⁶ H/m
ε₀Permittivity of free space = 8.854×10⁻¹² F/m
k_BBoltzmann constant = 1.381×10⁻²³ J/K
hPlanck constant = 6.626×10⁻³⁴ J·s
¹H gyromagnetic ratioγ/2π = 42.577 MHz/T
Carrier & Integration Band
Hz
lower integration bound
Hz
upper integration bound
Phase Noise Profile (up to 5 offset/level pairs)
Enter offset frequencies and phase noise levels. The calculator integrates using linear interpolation on a log-log scale between adjacent points.
Results

Jitter

RMS jitter, σ_t
Peak-to-peak jitter (6σ)
Integrated phase noise

Reference

Carrier frequency
Integration band
Phase noise at 1 kHz offset