Small device big innovation CMEMS technology shakes quartz crystal oscillator for a hundred years "hegemony"

A scientist in Taiwan did an experiment: he invited 50 volunteers to see all the blue objects in the room for 30 seconds. Then ask them to close their eyes and ask them how many red, green and yellow objects they saw? They are all dumbfounded because they only focus on blue objects and not notice objects of other colors.

In fact, similar situations happen almost everywhere in everyone, and we are always habitually neglecting things. The latest example of what happens to electronics engineers is that CMEMS programmable oscillators achieve smaller size, higher reliability, better aging resistance and more with fully integrated, highly reliable CMEMS (CMOS + MEMS) technology. Single-die oscillator solution with high integration and shorter lead times. However, in the market of frequency control and timing products monopolized by quartz crystal (XO) solutions for hundreds of years, engineers' inertial thinking makes it difficult for them to move their eyes from the quartz crystal oscillator (XO) to his small partner CMEMS programmable. Oscillator.

“Now, through our continuous efforts, more and more engineers and manufacturers have accepted the CMEMS clock products. The delivery volume of our CMEMS products is expected to increase significantly this year.” Silicon Labs Steven Zhang, the company's core agent in China, said, "We expect more engineers to understand the unique advantages of CMEMS programmable oscillators, and to shake the quartz crystal oscillator for more than a hundred years in more applications. ”

Evolution of frequency control technology

The $3 billion annual frequency control market has been dominated by quartz crystals and quartz-based oscillators for decades, and almost all types of electronics rely on a small piece of machined quartzite to generate at least one possible operation. frequency. However, there are still many limitations to quartz-based frequency control designs. For example, he needs more specialized and complex production processes, long, variable delivery times (weeks to months).

To overcome these shortcomings of quartz crystals, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) solutions have evolved over the past five years. MEMS technology originally originated from the pursuit of smaller form factors, and now has other significant advantages, including delivery time, supply stability, product reliability, device size and cost performance, which make MEMS-based oscillators part of the MEMS-based oscillator. Quartz based frequency control market. Figure 1 below shows the evolution of frequency control technology.

Evolution of frequency control technology

Figure 1. Evolution of frequency control techniques

Although MEMS resonator technology has solved the basic defects of quartz crystals, it has just entered the highly competitive frequency control market, and it has some shortcomings. First, the MEMS device is smaller than the quartz crystal, so it cannot provide more energy to the oscillation period. This means that the conversion efficiency is low at the same frequency, resulting in poor signal to noise. Second, traditional MEMS materials, such as monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, and even polysilicon germanium, exhibit significant drift with temperature, which can lead to signal integrity and thermal hysteresis problems.

In 2010, Silicon Labs acquired a fully integrated, highly reliable CMEMS technology by acquiring a MEMS architecture directly on a standard CMOS wafer in a mass production process by acquiring a company called Silicon Clocks. "The dream of integrating high-precision oscillators on standard CMOS chips has been made possible by Silicon Labs and their latest Si50x CMEMS oscillator series," said Steven Zhang.

CMEMS technology is an important technological advancement in the frequency control market. By combining the best features of both MEMS and CMOS, CMEMS programmable oscillators provide the best general purpose oscillator solution for embedded, industrial and consumer electronics applications where cost and power are limited.

Advantages of CMEMS compared to XO

Compared to the traditional quartz crystal oscillator (XO), the Si50x CMEMS programmable oscillator has the following advantages:

1. General purpose oscillators for cost, space and power sensitive applications;

2, custom sample delivery time is less than 2 weeks;

3. Direct replacement of crystal oscillator (XO);

4. Instantly customize the samples at the customer site using the field programmer;

5. High stability and predictable supply chain;

6, with a full temperature range, impact, vibration and other environments, with a high stability frequency output of 10 years;

7. Performance is more reliable than XO in vibration, impact, temperature and aging environments.

Traditional quartz supply chains are complex, costly, and inefficient. Their highly customized manufacturing processes (delivery times of weeks to months) not only increase the management of the supply chain, but also limit the frequency range produced by the reference oscillator. As the data rates of computing, communications, and networking devices increase, this limitation puts more pressure on the synthesis of clocks that provide high quality high frequency clock signals. The CMEMS process stream greatly simplifies the supply chain. Significantly reduced delivery time (less than 2 weeks) and unlimited programmability from kHz to GHz output frequency.

CMEMS custom samples delivered less than 2 weeks

Figure 2. CMEMS custom samples delivered less than 2 weeks

“Better resonators are equivalent to better stability. CMEMS technology ensures that the performance in the data sheet has 10 years of frequency stability, including soldering offset, load pull, VDD variation, operating temperature range, vibration and shock, and guarantees Operating life performance is 10 times that of other companies' XO and MEMS oscillators," Steven Zhang said.

The Si50x has a highly stable frequency reference over the full temperature range. Traditional MEMS resonators have a frequency drift of -30-40ppm/°C, while CMEMS frequency drifts are ±1ppm/°C. Temperature stability is 5-10 times higher than other solutions. As shown in Figure 3 below, the Si50x exhibits excellent frequency stability using the classic "devil test", including exposure to quenching and flashing environments. More reliable consistent performance over the full temperature range, enhancing long-term stability of the target application.

Si50x resistance to quenching and sudden heat change

Figure 3. Si50x resistance to quenching and sudden heat change

In addition, the Si50x is a highly stable and reliable oscillator with an atomic mass of less than 61000 times compared to comparable crystals, making it less susceptible to shock, vibration, acceleration and aging.

Si50x is a powerful alternative to traditional XO

Combined with Silicon Labs' mixed-signal expertise, CMEMS technology can generate almost any frequency output with a single reference frequency, and the output frequency is as stable as a mass-produced crystal oscillator, solving thermal hysteresis or signal integrity problems, and is highly resistant to shocks. And vibration capability, and has a frequency stability guarantee of ±20ppm for more than 10 years. The CMEMS single-chip oscillator will be an alternative solution for crystal oscillators.

The Si50x CMEMS oscillator family includes four programmable chips for the industrial, embedded and consumer electronics markets, as shown in Figure 4 below. Each chip can be customized via the web or in the field.

Si50x CMEMS Oscillator Series Product Overview

Figure 4. Overview of the Si50x CMEMS Oscillator Series

“Si501/2/3/4 is a universal XO replacement for application needs: low power (1–8mA), low frequency, LVCMOS clock (“100MHz”, small size (2.0x2.5mm), low cost ( ~$0.50 10K EAU), high reliability (high vibration, high temperature), good consumption / embedded jitter performance (1.1ps RMS period jitter) in the system." Steven Zhang said.

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