New XO family gives designers more performance, reliability and peace of mind

Silicon Labs has introduced a new family of high-performance crystal oscillators (XOs) offering the industry’s lowest jitter frequency-flexible solution. The Si54x Ultra Series XOs deliver ultra-low jitter performance down to 80 femtoseconds (fs) for both integer and fractional frequencies across the entire operating range. These XOs provide best-in-class frequency flexibility and excellent jitter margin for demanding applications including 100G/200G/400G line cards and optical modules, hyperscale data centers, broadband, wireless infrastructure, broadcast video, industrial, test and measurement, and military/aerospace. Si54x Ultra Series XOs are available with single, dual and quad frequency options in an industry-standard 3.2 mm x 5 mm package, enabling simple, drop-in compatibility with traditional XOs while providing super-fast lead times and high reliability. Increasing demand for network bandwidth and faster data rates continue to drive the need for lower jitter reference clocks. Timing jitter defines the purity of a clock signal, and since an XO functions as the system’s local heartbeat, a clean, low-jitter output means less noise in the system. Ultra-low jitter XOs (<200fs RMS) are necessary in applications where high clock noise would result in unacceptably high BER, lost traffic or loss of system communication. The safest approach for high-performance systems is to use an ultra-low jitter clock source like this XO that delivers excellent jitter margin. “Today’s optical networks, hyperscale data centers and mobile fronthaul/backhaul networks are moving to higher speeds, driving the need for ultra-low jitter timing solutions,” said James Wilson, senior marketing director for Silicon Labs’ timing products. “By choosing Silicon Labs’ Si54x Ultra Series oscillators, system designers will have peace of mind knowing that they are using the industry’s most frequency flexible XO while still enjoying excellent jitter design margin and extremely short product lead times for their application.”