AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB), a leader in high-performance, analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs, today introduced the industry’s most highly integrated MEMS-based oscillators designed to replace general-purpose crystal oscillators (XOs) in cost-sensitive, low-power and high-volume industrial, embedded and consumer electronics applications such as digital cameras, storage and memory, ATM machines, point-of-sale equipment and multi-function printers. The new Si50x oscillators are based on Silicon Labs’ patented CMEMS® technology – the first to enable MEMS structures to be built directly on top of standard CMOS wafers in high-volume fabs, resulting in fully integrated, highly reliable monolithic “CMOS+MEMS” IC solutions.
Silicon Labs’ Si50x CMEMS oscillator family achieves smaller size, higher reliability, better aging and higher integration than existing frequency control solutions through a patented monolithic architecture that integrates the MEMS resonator together with the CMOS oscillator circuitry on a single die. The benefits of this unprecedented CMOS+MEMS integration combined with Silicon Labs’ proven mixed-signal expertise are transformational for the frequency control industry:
- CMEMS oscillators are manufactured in a high-volume CMOS fab with unified foundry lines that support wafer probing of complete oscillator systems for state-of-the-art quality and process control.
CMEMS technology enables guaranteed data sheet performance with 10 years of frequency stability including solder shift, load pulling, VDD variation, operating temperature range, vibration and shock. This guaranteed operating life performance is 10 times longer than typically offered by comparable crystal and MEMS oscillators. CMEMS oscillators tightly couple the MEMS resonator with CMOS temperature sensor and compensation circuitry, ensuring a highly stable frequency output in the face of thermal transients and over the full industrial temperature range. The end result is a predictable, reliable frequency reference over the long operating lifespans of industrial and embedded applications.
- CMEMS resonators are passively compensated, using materials with offsetting temperature behaviors in the design. This enables Silicon Labs to apply its innovative mixed-signal circuit design expertise to create smaller, lower power and more cost-effective oscillators while ensuring excellent frequency and temperature stability and aging performance.