Mobius Microsystems Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) today unveils its CMOS Harmonic Oscillator (CHO) technology that eliminates the need for quartz crystals in many applications. By integrating an oscillator onto an ordinary complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) chip, the company claims to have removed the last moving part from electronics circuitry. Mobius has identified multiple high-volume markets for its CHO technology (where its 100 PPM accuracy is adequate), including providing the timing signals for the serial PCI-Express peripheral bus; for universal serial bus (USB) devices; for serial hard disk drives (S-ATA); for flat-panel displays; and for printers. For each of these applications, switching to a CHO chip means that OEMs can reduce their bills-of-material (BOM) by dropping quartz crystals.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207001579
