Conclusion

This paper breaks down a number of commonly used terms associated with oscillators and their jitter performances. The primary goal of clock-jitter analysis should be to determine what type of jitter the specific application is sensitive to and analyze how their effects can be minimized. While clock vendors are responsible for ensuring a high level of performance, only so much design can be done at the component level. A design engineer who knows how jitter can be generated and mitigated will be able to save themselves a great deal of trouble down the line. See application note AN4362 for additional information on optimizing oscillator performance.