SiTime is sampling a differential MEMS oscillator for 100G – 800G optical modules. Volume production is planned for Q1 2021.

The SiT9501 is  for applications such as datacentre switches, telecom routers, edge servers, AI/graphics cards, and storage controllers.

“Over the past 15 years, SiTime has developed and shipped two generations of MEMS resonators that are used in all our oscillator shipments to date. Our third generation MEMS is now ready and delivers up to 7 times better phase noise at half the power,” says Rajesh Vashist, CEO of SiTime,  “the SiT9501 is the first of many products to use this technology.”
In anticipation of massive Internet traffic growth, driven by 5G, AI and cloud computing, data centers are increasing throughput. Optical modules and data communications equipment need to deliver faster data rates.

Outdoor 5G infrastructure is subject to environmental stressors such as high-temperature, vibration and airflow that can degrade throughput. With the increased data rates and potential environmental stressors, timing margins shrink, requiring lower jitter oscillators to ensure the same quality of service.

In optical modules, a third of the PCB area is consumed by the optical sub-assembly, leaving little room for data processing electronics, and making small size a critical factor in oscillator selection.

SiTime’s  SiT9501 differential oscillator solves both key issues by offering the lowest jitter in the presence of environmental stressors, and the smallest size.

Features of the SiT9501 Differential MEMS Oscillator

The SiT9501 is the industry’s lowest-jitter programmable oscillator, and includes the following features:

Popular networking frequencies from 25 MHz to 644.53125 MHz

70 femtoseconds of RMS phase jitter

2.0 x 1.6 mm package, the industry’s smallest. Also available in other industry standard packages.

Wide temperature range, from -40 to +105°C

On-chip voltage regulators to filter power-supply noise, enhancing power integrity for module designs

Innovative FlexSwing driver reduces power consumption by 30% and integrates source-bias LVPECL resistors