Electronics Weekly Electronics Design & Components Tech News
Last year it sampled its first product: a 1.5×1.5mm 32kHz timing reference chip for mobile phones.
This year, we will see what the market thinks, and await higher frequency products.
Manufactured using a standard CMOS process, the 32kHz oscillator draws 8µA, delivers accuracy down to ±30ppm, and works from -40 to 85°C – complying with the system design requirements of major 3G handset manufacturers, claimed the firm.
Its IP, ‘accurate timing oscillator circuit’ (Atoc), does not involve physical resonators, micromachined or otherwise, nor squeezing every last error out of the oscillator. It is about error compensation – going so far as to correct for stress in the silicon chip substrate. “We have a technique for tuning oscillators, it could be any oscillator: RC or LC,” said CEO Ian Macbeth. “All the smarts are in the compensation, not the oscillator.”
After manufacture, calibration codes to be applied at power-up are blown into non-volatile memory. Plus there is some continuous re-calibration.
Phone-makers want the product, claims Macbeth, but want to cut the risks associated with small start-ups. Desire was strong enough for phone makers to ask big chip firms to come up with a solution, so eoSemi is having its chips made by a trusted supplier – TSMC, and badged by Tier 1 chip firms.
Previous Startups to follow:
