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Aperture synthesis (synthesis imaging) is a method of using an interferometer incorporating an array of telescopes, to produce an image with the angular resolution like that provided by a single aperture as wide as the array's baseline length. The method is used in optical, infrared, microwave, and radio astronomy. The term synthetic aperture telescope (SAT) refers to a telescope-array set up to do this, the term most often used when the telescopes are optical.
Any interferometer array of two ore more telescopes (e.g., multiple radio-telescope dishes) is intended to produce the high angular resolution associated with their baselines, and it would seem the term aperture synthesis applies to any of them. But I suspect the term is often meant specifically to indicate post-calculations that generate an image. Phase data can be used in such calculations, and sometimes it is said that aperture syntheses requires it. However, I've seen reference to aperture syntheses without phase data and I presume methods of image-production without phase data exist but are inferior.