MEMS ENABLES OSCILLATORS WITH SUB-PPM FREQUENCY STABILITY AND SUB-PS JITTER

Abstract

An integrated MEMS thermistor and resonator are at the core of SiTime's new high performance oscillator platform. These MEMS-based oscillators are designed to achieve the performance requirements of high-end communication applications. The resonator, which has an f-Q product of 6.910 12 , enables the oscillator to achieve sub-picosecond integrated phase jitter in the 12 kHz to 20 MHz frequency range. The MEMS thermistor, with a resistance-temperature sensitivity of 0.33 %/C, is used to compensate for the temperature-induced frequency variations of the silicon resonator. The thermistor is key to achieving sub-ppm frequency stability in a -40 C to 85 C temperature range and a sub-5 ppb Allan deviation in 0.1 second to 10 second strides. The demonstrated system performance opens high-volume data communication markets previously unavailable to MEMS-based oscillators.