MEMS oscillators good choice as clock references in small, battery-powered devices

Microchip has announced the availability of the DSC6000 family of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) oscillators. The new family is claimed to be the industry’s smallest MEMS MHz oscillator with the lowest power consumption over full frequency range of 2KHz to 100MHz. The single-output MEMS oscillators are excellent choices for use as clock references in small, battery-powered devices such as wearables and IoT devices in which small size, low power consumption, and long-term reliability are paramount. They also meet the stringent mechanical durability and reliability requirements within Automotive Electronics Council standard Q100 (AEC-Q100), so they are also well suited for under-bonnet applications. The oscillators are housed in industry standard 4-pin DFN packages ranging from as small as 1.6mm x 1.2mm up to 7mm x 5mm, and consume just 1.3mA (typical), less than half the current consumption of the lowest-power quartz-based oscillators. They also have a maximum operating temperature range of -40C to +85C and +/-25 ppm maximum drift over this range. They can sustain 500 times more shock and five times more vibration than a quartz oscillator, ensuring rock-solid stability in most operating environments. The company’s ClockWorks online configuration tool allows designers to easily select the right oscillator in terms of frequency, package size, ppm and temperature range and then request complimentary samples of that oscillator through the same tool. The TimeFlash field programming kit provides instant frequency generation by fusing the One-Time Programmable memory in a blank DSC6000 part that can be ordered separately.