June 9, 2014 – SiTime Corporation, a leading supplier of analog semiconductors, announced the introduction of the smallest, lowest-power 32 kHz temperature compensated oscillator (TCXO). Boasting a compact footprint and ultra-low power consumption, the SiT1552 MEMS TCXO enables a paradigm shift in size and battery life for wearable electronics and the Internet of Things (IoT). These benefits are not available with existing quartz devices.

“The wearable and Internet of Things (IoT) markets are growing rapidly, driving demand for customized devices that deliver new features and superior performance,” said Marwan Boustany, senior analyst for MEMS & Sensors at IHS. “SiTime is a leading supplier in the MEMS timing market, with the largest market share, and the introduction of these cutting-edge 32 kHz MEMS TCXOs further strengthens their market position.”

“By leveraging our game-changing TempFlat MEMSTM and analog technology, SiTime has once again pushed the boundaries of quartz technology,” said Piyush Sevalia, Senior Vice President of Marketing at SiTime. “The SiT1552 MEMS TCXO is 20% the size of competing products and consumes 50% of the power of competing quartz devices.” Our MEMS enable new system architectures that deliver higher performance, smaller size, and longer battery life. “As we have done in other industries, we aim to continue to revolutionize the timing industry with innovative MEMS solutions,” he said.

The SiT1552 is the smallest commercially available TCXO, available in a 1.5 x 0.8 mm chip scale package (CSP). The SiT1552 MEMS TCXO can perform a variety of functions in a system, including a reference for real-time clock (RTC) functionality, a sleep clock for connectivity-only Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, and WiFi, and a heartbeat clock for battery supervision.

Compared to quartz TCXOs, MEMS TCXOs are just 20% the size of conventional quartz products, come in a 1.5 x 0.8mm CSP, and consume 50% less power, typically less than 1 microamp. They are 45% thinner, measuring just 0.55mm in height, and offer a 10x faster startup time of 3 milliseconds. They also feature 30x higher shock resistance and 15x higher reliability with a mean time between failure (MTBF) of 500 million hours.

Additional features include ±5 PPM frequency stability for 2-3X longer battery life compared to 180 PPM quartz resonators, NanoDrive™ programmable low swing outputs for direct interface to downstream processors or oscillator/RTC circuitry within PMICs while minimizing power, and 1.5 to 3.63 V operation, making it ideal for products using coin-cell or super-cap battery backup.