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Application Note: Comparative Analysis: MEMS vs. Traditional Quartz Oscillators
By David Kenny, Manager Research and Development, Pletronics, Inc. & Robert Henry, Manager Quality Assurance, Pletronics, Inc.
From simple RC oscillators, accurate to about 30,000 PPM, to atomic clocks with accuracies of greater than 0.001 PPB, there are clocking options to meet the needs of every application. For years, Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) crystal oscillators satisfied the majority of requirements, providing accuracies up to 10 PPM range. Less accurate options, such as SAW oscillators, ceramic resonators, and IC oscillators each have advantages to meet specific needs.
Quartz-based devices have long been a standard by which most other timing devices have been compared. The history of quartz as a stable, controllable, high quality material for frequency selection and clocking devices is universally recognized, and frequency vs. temperature response, aging, and jitter and phase noise characteristics are well chronicled in the industry.
The relatively recent introduction of MEMS based oscillators has been accompanied by claims that this technology would finally replace quartz by providing lower costs, shorter design and production cycle times, excellent shock and vibration performance, and superior signal quality. Despite these claims, there have been few studies available to help understand the performance characteristics of MEMS oscillators. This investigation seeks to provide a direct comparison of MEMS oscillators with traditional quartz resonator based oscillators.
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