I think it boils down to something very practical:

If you want good spectral purity, then you need to bandpass filter the
output of the multiplier. It becomes a matter of how close and how large the
undesired spectral components are compared to the desired spectral
components. After that, you can consult your filter design charts to
determine how complex a filter will be required and whether it's physically
realizable.

As an example, a x4 multiplier stage will have a desired output at Fin x 4,
and close-in undesired products at Fin x 3 and Fin x 5. This means the
output bandpass filter has to be able to attenuate signals at +/-25% of the
center frequency sufficiently to meet the desired spectral purity. In
practice with simple single-ended multiplier designs, a x4 multiplier is
approaching the threshold of realizability for high purity applications
(40-60 dB purity). It is possible to make push-pull and push-push
multipliers that have better output purity, but these techniques are seldom
used.

Joe
W3JDR



"Jim Thompson" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 23:48:47 +0000, Paul Burridge
wrote:

What's the maximum multiplication factor it's practical and sensible
to attempt to achieve in one single stage of multiplication? (Say from
a 7Mhz square wave source with 5nS rise/fall times.)

You ought to be able to answer that yourself... what's the spectral
roll-off of a square wave ??

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.