Sep 18 2007
SiTime Corporation, the world’s leading innovator of MEMS-based timing solutions, introduced today the timing industry’s thinnest standalone oscillator. With a maximum thickness of 400 microns (370 microns typical) SiTime’s Ultra-Thin SiT8002UT enables a highly stable clock reference in severely height-restricted applications.
The SiT8002UT can be factory programmed to deliver any frequency from 1 MHz to 125 MHz with frequency stability of +/-200 ppm over the industrial temperature range (-40 to +85 C). This new product is available in a 3.0 x 3.5 x 0.40 mm QFN surface mount package, which makes the SiT8002UT the thinnest oscillator on the market today. Like all SiTime products, the SiT8002UT is lead free and RoHS compliant.
“We are extremely excited to offer the SiT8002UT. This product opens a completely new market that was not served by existing resonator technologies. The SiT8002UT oscillator will be the first product offered by SiTime in a family of ultra-thin, high-performance MEMS-based timing solutions,” said Jason Sharma, Sr. Product Marketing Manager at SiTime Corporation.
Challenges and Competing Technologies
A thin, mechanically robust, high performance clock reference with excellent frequency stability poses a challenge in height-constrained applications. Current clock reference technologies struggle to address these requirements. Materials such as quartz and PZT are brittle, making these technologies when thinned susceptible to cracking, warping, and wide frequency variation.
SiTime’s Advantages
SiTime’s SiRes™ MEMS resonators have inherent size, stability, and performance advantages that address all of the aforementioned technical challenges. Because the resonator is fabricated using standard CMOS SOI wafers with EpiSealTM encapsulation, by default SiTime’s resonators are much thinner than quartz or ceramic based resonators. SiTime’s resonators are robust due to the quad structure of the resonator and the patented MEMS FirstTM and EpiSealTM fabrication processes. The resonator withstands shock of 30,000 G’s and automotive vibration testing of 40 G’s from 5 kHz to 20 kHz. Finally, the frequency stability of SiTime’s SiT8002UT is an outstanding +/-200 ppm over the industrial temperature range (-40 to +85 C) with tighter frequency tolerance versions planned.
The inherent advantages of being thin, mechanically robust, and highly stable in terms of frequency stability afforded by SiTime’s patented SiRes™ MEMS resonator ideally position the SiT8002UT to address portable, multi-chip module, and automotive applications that require low profile clock references.