Silicon Labs announces the clock industry's ultra-small size, ultra-low jitter I2C programmable crystal oscillator

Silicon Labs has announced a new family of small size, high performance crystal oscillators (XOs) and voltage controlled crystal oscillators (VCXOs) for low jitter and frequency flexible clock synthesis.

The Si54x/6x Ultra Series XO/VCXO offers jitter performance down to 80 femtoseconds (fs) for integer and decimal frequencies throughout its operating range, providing excellent jitter margins for demanding applications such as data center interconnect, optical transmission, broadcast video, and test/measurement. Available in single channel, dual channel, quad-channel and I2C programmable frequency options, these new products support the industry standard 2.5x3.2mm package size, making them ideal for space-constrained designs that require a mix of different frequencies.

Ideal for high bandwidth, high density line cards and small size optical modules

The increasing demand for network bandwidth and faster data rates is driving the demand for higher speed 400/600/800G optical/Ethernet ports and higher density line cards. As telecommunications and data center applications accelerate 400G deployments, the optical module market is transitioning from CFP designs to smaller sized QSFP-DD, OSFP, and CFP2 solutions to help the industry ease the transition to higher bandwidth, higher density line cards. These applications require low-jitter, highly reliable clock solutions to optimize the bit error rate of the system and ensure high availability of the system.

Small occupation area, durable

The Si54x/6x is the ideal solution for 400/600/800G coherent light and 56G/112G SerDes clocks in optical modules and cable cards that require high performance and small size packages. The Si54x/6x device is guaranteed to operate at ±20ppm over a 20-year service life, making it ideal for long life cycle applications. All power filters are integrated inside the device, eliminating off-chip discrete components that typically take up as much PCB area as the XO itself. Silicon Labs' Si54x/6x is compatible with conventional oscillator pins and offers less than 2 weeks of lead time for custom frequencies.

James Wilson, general manager of Clock products at Silicon Labs, said: "Data center operators and telecom networks are deploying low-cost, smaller optical modules for line-side and customer-side applications, driving the demand for space-optimized, high-performance clock solutions. Unlike traditional solutions, which may require multiple oscillators to generate all the required frequencies, the Si54x/Si56x is a single-chip, all-in-one solution that enables truly arbitrary frequency performance with a smaller footprint."

Silicon Labs continues to expand its leadership in high-performance clock solutions

These new products further expand Silicon Labs' industry-leading portfolio of high-performance XO/VCXO products, complementing the existing general purpose (800fs), low jitter (300fs), and ultra-low jitter (80fs) product lines. Supported in 5x7mm, 3.2x5mm and 2.5x3.2mm package options, these families provide the industry with a wide range of product options.