Pericom touts crystal oscillator family for high-speed serial applications
FEBRUARY 2, 2009 -- Pericom Semiconductor Corp., manufacturer of products for timing, signal conditioning, and serial connectivity, today announced production availability of what it claims is an industry-first family of low-jitter, low-power, high-frequency crystal oscillators developed using its patented XP technology.
This technology uses a quartz-and-silicon integration technology to offer very low jitter, non-PLL-based oscillators covering the challenging 150-MHz to 220-MHz frequency spectrum. The new product family addresses cost- and performance-sensitive requirements of high-growth serial connectivity applications, including 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10-GbE), passive optical networks (PON), and Serial Attached SCSI (SAS).
"According to market analyst data, total shipments of 10-GbE, PON, and SAS2 will exceed 60 million ports by 2012," notes Kay Annamalai, Pericom's senior director of marketing for timing products. "Our unique technology creates a price point that addresses a significant portion of this growing market. Our cost, performance, and reliability advantage is achieved with use of our vertically integrated lower-frequency crystal, in-house IC, module design, and manufacturing capability," adds Annamalai.
The 2.5V/3.3V SX/SN series and 3.3V SD/SH series of XP crystal oscillators (XO) feature the latest in oscillator circuit design techniques. Based on a proprietary patented technology that combines Pericom's IC silicon technology and Saronix-eCera quartz technology, the XP oscillators are designed for much improved reliability and lower phase jitter (0.25ps rms typical) for high-frequency 2.5V & 3.3V CMOS/PECL clock applications, explain company representatives. The product is drop-in compatible with existing Overtone, SAW, and PLL-based oscillators in four-pin 5x7mm (2.5V/3.3V SX CMOS Series), six-pin 5x7mm (2.5V/3.3V SN PECL), and six-pin 3.2x5mm (3.3V SD PECL Series) packages.
According to the company, key features include the following:
• Exceptional reliability -- The patented XP clock circuit technology integrated on Pericom Silicon allows a thicker crystal than those used in traditional overtone circuits, thereby enabling improved long-term reliability and fewer failures than traditional overtone oscillators.
• Low jitter -- XP oscillators contain no internal PLL frequency multiplier, therefore output jitter is very low.
• Tight stability -- XP oscillators use BAW (bulk acoustic wave) crystal devices, thereby achieving better stability performance than oscillators based on high-frequency SAW (surface acoustic wave) designs.
• Low power consumption -- XP CMOS oscillators consume a low level of current--only 25mA max (2.5V) and 30mA max (3.3V)--significantly lower than other competing technologies.
Prices, in quantities of 100K, range from $1.30 to $3.00 depending on series, frequency, and stability. Samples and production quantities are available now.