SiTime releases Epoch Platform to accelerate the revolution in the precision MEMS clock industry

     SiTime Corporation announced the launch of the SiTime Epoch Platform, which aims to disrupt 100 year old quartz technology and solve the most complex clock problems in electronics. The SiTime Epoch Platform is a thermostatic oscillator (OCXO) based on MEMS technology that provides ultra-stable clocks for data center and network infrastructure, which is expected to unlock a total of $2 billion in the serviceable market (SAM) over the next decade. Over time, Epoch technology will also expand into other high-growth electronics markets, such as aerospace, defense, and industrial controls.

     Rajesh Vashist, CEO and Chairman of SiTime, said: "The launch of the Epoch Platform is an important moment for SiTime and the electronics industry. For many years, our customers have had to accept the shortcomings of existing clock technology, compromising on actual performance, reliability and power consumption because there was no viable alternative before. SiTime's Epoch Platform is a breakthrough that delivers higher performance and reliability with lower power consumption than ever before.

     These advantages stem from our continuous engineering investment over the past five years and our system development approach that combines MEMS, simulation, packaging, and algorithms. Epoch Platform, along with the new products introduced since 2020, with more on the way, will expand our communications and enterprise annual servicable market to $1.3 billion by 2024. We believe that precision clocks will be a catalyst for innovation in all electronic products and drive our success in the future."

     Accurate clocks are critical to network performance and reliability. All nodes in the network must be synchronized in a timely manner. For example, all nodes in a 5G network must always be synchronized within hundreds of nanoseconds, which is 10 times more stringent than 4G requirements. This level of synchronization must be maintained even if the network is down. By delivering up to 2x performance, 9x size reduction and 3x power consumption for applications such as data center switches and routers, 5G base stations and core infrastructure, the Epoch Platform sets new benchmarks in performance and reliability.

     The SiTime Epoch Platform provides twice the retention time to ensure reliable, continuous network operation.Synchronous networks rely on multiple redundant clock sources to ensure continuous operation. One of these sources is an ultra-stable local oscillator, usually an OCXO, which will "hold" the network and ensure continued operation if other clock sources are affected.

     However, conventional quartz OCXOs are inherently unreliable and prone to performance degradation in the presence of environmental factors such as temperature changes and vibration. Until now, electronics manufacturers have needed to compromise on actual performance, reliability, size, power consumption, and warm-up times to achieve the stable reference clock offered by OCXOs.

     With the introduction of the Epoch Platform, SiTime breaks through all of the above limitations of quartz OCXOs. The Epoch Platform provides twice the uptime even under ambient stress, enabling telecom and cloud service providers to provide service continuity under real-world conditions.