SiTime Corporation today introduced the SiTime XCalibur active resonator. This new product category solves supply chain constraints using programmable semiconductors to deliver a drop-in replacement for quartz crystal resonators. Additionally, XCalibur provides higher performance and reliability while reducing development time by up to two months in automotive, enterprise, and industrial applications.
“SiTime’s portfolio consists of many unique solutions that deliver value to customers. We are continuing that tradition by creating a new category of MEMS-based active resonators that opens up a $200 million SAM within the $4 billion resonator market,” said Piyush Sevalia, executive vice president of marketing at SiTime. “Our new XCalibur active resonators solve quartz availability problems through programmability and by using the semiconductor supply chain that is independent of quartz. Additionally, quartz resonators are notorious for posing design challenges requiring additional testing and development, delaying customers’ projects. XCalibur solves these challenges by providing a more reliable, flexible drop-in replacement that’s much easier to implement.”
Quartz resonators have well-known weaknesses such as being susceptible to strong EMI fields and requiring negative resistance testing in every design and layout cycle, as well as requiring qualification for each frequency. With XCalibur active resonators, customers no longer experience EMI or start-up issues. They no longer need to send their board to quartz vendors for negative resistance testing. Furthermore, customers can implement a new frequency in the same design without re-qualifying the part. All these benefits enable the customer to get to market faster.
SiTime XCalibur active resonators provide 10x better reliability than quartz, making them ideal for automotive and industrial applications that demand robustness and long life in harsh environments. The many benefits of these MEMS-based resonators also extend to communications and networking, enterprise, consumer electronics, mobile and IoT, and aerospace and defense applications.
