A Versatile Timing Microsystem Based on Wafer-Level Packaged XTAL/BAW Resonators With Sub-$\mu$W RTC Mode and Programmable HF Clocks

Abstract

This paper introduces and demonstrates with high yield a novel concept for the packaging under vacuum of tuning fork quartz XTALs on top of a silicon interposer equipped with TSVs. It paves the way to the implementation of a monolithic timing microsystem where the ASIC is part of the housing of a newly designed tiny 131-kHz XTAL to reach extreme module miniaturization (1.5 <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">$\,\times\,$</tex></formula> 1.1 <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">$\,\times\,$</tex></formula> 0.7 mm <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">$^{3}$</tex></formula> ) and integrity. As this task is still ongoing, an early demonstration of the generic versatile timing module is presented using a chip-on-board approach with standalone conventionally packaged XTAL and BAW resonators. The module achieves 0.4 <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">$\mu$</tex></formula> W power dissipation and <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">${\pm} $</tex></formula> 2 ppm stability over <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">${-}$</tex> </formula> 40 <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">$^{\circ}$</tex> </formula> C to 85 <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">$^{\circ}$</tex> </formula> C in RTC mode and can deliver on-demand programmable clocks between 1–50 MHz. The latter are obtained either with a RC PLL or after division of the signal obtained from a 2-GHz BAW DCO at a power dissipation of 100 <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">$\mu$</tex> </formula> W and 5.3 mW, respectively.