Leveraging High-Volume CMOS Manufacturing for MEMS-Based Frequency Control

Over the last five years, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) solutions have steadily eroded the 100-year-old monopoly held by quartz crystal solutions for frequency control and timing products. MEMS technologies, originally designed around the promise of smaller form factors, have enabled significant additional advantages related to lead time, supply stability, product reliability, device size, and price and performance tradeoffs—advantages that promise to secure a meaningful share of the quartz-based frequency control market for MEMS-based oscillators.