New technology delivers highly cost-effective automotive crystals

Murata has launched the XRCGB-F-A series crystal units for automotive applications - the first in the world to use an exclusive new, proprietary package technology that delivers consistent superior quality, mass production capabilities, and importantly a highly cost-effective product, says the company. In recent years demand has grown in the automotive market for electronic control units (ECUs) that provide sophisticated control capabilities. As a consequence, this has resulted in a trend towards ECUs that operate at higher frequencies. In response to this organic demand from the market, Murata has developed and commercialized the XRCGB-F-A series crystal units that are compact, 2016-size (2mm x 1.6mm), and highly precise while supporting high frequencies. The line up of crystals in the series support frequencies from 24 to 48MHz, and products supporting other frequencies are planned for the future. Combining small size with high precision, the crystal units feature a frequency tolerance of plus or minus 30ppm and a frequency temperature stability of plus or minus 35ppm within the typical operating temperature range of automobiles (-40C to +125C). This makes them suitable for next-generation automotive LANs such as Ethernet or image processing ECUs. The crystals are also ideal for use in ADAS ECUs (camera, millimeter wave, laser, etc.), and gateway ECUs, says the company.