Mobius Microsystems is an innovator in analog and mixed signal designs, and is the first to implement highly accurate frequency generators entirely in standard CMOS. This is a significant technical breakthrough in frequency generation, which up to now had been accomplished with quartz-based crystals and crystal oscillators that are among the last non-semiconductor components in electronic devices today. Mobius’ patented CMOS Harmonic Oscillator (CHO™) is produced on a single piece of silicon and enables system designers to create smaller, thinner, and more mechanically robust products. CHO also significantly shortens the manufacturing cycle time to best respond to market demands.
Eliminating quartz crystals from today’s electronic products, and replacing them with silicon components, holds significant performance, cost and reliability benefits. As high definition and personal multimedia applications drive up the amount of bandwidth required by consumer electronic and storage devices, the standard reference frequencies are increasing beyond the capabilities of low cost, fundamental mode crystals. Furthermore, crystals are physically fragile and compromise the reliability of mobile devices. Additionally, the mechanical manufacturing process used to create quartz crystal references is too time-consuming to respond to consumer market demands in an expedient manner.
Mobius’ patented CHO is an all-CMOS IC, which combines a high frequency reference oscillator with complex mixed-signal circuitry to stabilize the oscillation over temperature and voltage changes, as well as automatic calibration logic to compensate for silicon process variances. It is the first all-CMOS frequency reference that exceeds High Speed Universal Serial Bus (HS-USB) 2.0 specifications without requiring any external reference.
As the bandwidth requirements of today’s consumer, computation and automotive systems increase, so does the popularity of serial communication interfaces which have traditionally been used in telecom and datacom segments. With its low phase noise and jitter, the CHO provides a more suitable frequency reference for serial interfaces than quartz crystals by minimizing bit error rates and supporting the ever-higher reference frequencies these markets require.
In addition to the performance benefits, the elimination of external crystal references allows system designers to make mobile devices smaller and thinner while improving their mechanical reliability. Manufacturers can enjoy the economies of scale of semiconductor fabrication processes to reduce their component lead-time and inventory costs, and meet fluctuating market demands.
Mobius’ CHO technology is based on fundamental research conducted by Dr. Michael S. McCorquodale at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The effort was motivated by Dr. McCorquodale’s previous research on MEMS-based frequency generators, with the objective of finding an all-CMOS solution that can deliver better performance without the added cost of the specialized MEMS process. Mobius has received a worldwide perpetual license for the intellectual property fundamental to the CHO from the University of Michigan and has filed a large number of patents on further refinements of the technology and on system applications.
Mobius Microsystems is funded by top-tier venture capital firms Foundation Capital, Menlo Ventures, RPM Ventures, and has established manufacturing partnerships with major suppliers.
The company’s headquarters are located at 111 W. Evelyn, Avenue, Suite 210, Sunnyvale CA 94086; (408) 739-5400; info@mobiusmicro.com. The company also has a design center in Detroit, Michigan.