Industry's first 100MHz, HCSL-output crystal oscillator designed for PCI Express applications

Maxim Integrated Products’ DS4100H 100MHz, HCSL-output crystal oscillator (XO) is designed for PCI Express applications. Said to be the industry's first XO to provide a high-speed, current-steering logic (HCSL) output, the DS4100H eliminates the need to translate from CMOS, LVDS, or LVPECL formats to HCSL. Manufactured using fundamental AT-cut crystal technology, it integrates a low-noise, PLL-based oscillator designed using Maxim's proprietary SiGe process. The DS4100H is fifty-five percent smaller than SAW-based or third-overtone designs, making it ideal for space-constrained, PCI Express applications.

Available in a small, 5x3.2mm package, the DS4100H is highly competitive against SAW-based oscillator designs, which are manufactured in a larger, 5x7mm ceramic package and are not offered with an HCSL output. It provides jitter performance of less than 1psRMS (12kHz to 20MHz) over the -40ºC to +85ºC extended temperature range, while delivering much higher frequency stability (±39ppm versus ±100ppm or greater) than SAW-based devices. Additionally, this XO provides extremely low, ±7ppm aging over 10 years, whereas SAW-based oscillators typically provide ±1ppm aging per year.

The DS4100H also outperforms third-overtone designs, which require additional components in order to translate from other output formats to HCSL. Integrating a robust LC-PLL circuit that uses a fundamental AT-cut crystal, this XO eliminates the spurious modes of operation typically found in third-overtone designs. The DS4100H is available in a 5x3.2x1.49mm, 10-pin LCCC surface-mount ceramic package.