MEMS Oscillators for High Volume Commercial Applications

Abstract

Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) resonators have been investigated for over forty years but have never delivered the high performance and low cost required of commercial oscillators. Limiting factors have been temperature drift, long term stability, susceptibility to vibration, manufacturability, and low cost back-end packaging. These requirements have now been met by SiTime's MEMS First <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">™</sup> wafer-level encapsulation technology combined with a system architecture using modern phase lock loop (PLL) technology with a high performance CMOS signal conditioning chip. SiTime's MEMS and CMOS chips are manufactured in state of the art CMOS fabrication facilities and can be packaged with any semiconductor packaging technology. The resulting silicon MEMS oscillators outperform existing quartz solutions in various aspects such as reliability, robustness, small size, and system integration.