Advances in Silicon Technology Enables Replacement of Quartz-Based Oscillators

With a market size estimated at more than $650M and more than 1.4B crystal oscillators supplied annually, quartz crystal oscillators have long been the preferred choice for clock generation in consumer, computing, and communication applications. Quartz oscillators are available in a wide range of frequencies, package sizes, and stabilities. In addition to providing excellent jitter performance, quartz oscillators are available from a broad range of suppliers. Yet for all their benefits, manufacturing complexity and reliability issues associated with quartz oscillators have driven the quest to develop alternative oscillator solutions that use micro electromechanical (MEMs) resonators or pure semiconductor solutions like the Si500.