Mobius Microsystems is an innovator in precision timing ICs, and is the first company to implement highly accurate timing generators entirely in standard CMOS. This is a significant technical breakthrough in timing generation, which up to now was served by quartz crystals and crystal oscillators.  Mobius’ patented CMOS Harmonic Oscillator (CHO™) is produced on a single piece of silicon and offers system designers a frequency reference with excellent phase noise and jitter performance. The product uses an all-CMOS oscillator design that achieves very low frequency drift over all environmental conditions without requiring any type of mechanical resonator structure. In addition to size and reliability advantages over quartz crystals, CHO also significantly shortens the manufacturing cycle time to best respond to fluctuating demands of the consumer electronics market

The foundation of this patented design is a harmonic (LC) resonator circuit with very low phase noise and jitter. Unlike common LC resonators that have long been used in low jitter PLLs, CHO is designed to maintain its frequency accuracy in an open-loop configuration. The key innovation that Mobius brings to market is a complex analog control circuitry that compensates for process, voltage and temperature variations to stabilize the oscillating frequency with sufficient accuracy in the open-loop configuration. The technology enables CHO to support many common consumer electronics and storage system interfaces, and eliminate crystal oscillators from today’s designs. The company offers a broad selection of output frequency and package options to fit the needs of various applications. The integrated and space saving design eliminates the common frequency drift problems associated with crystal’s load capacitors, and offers excellent shock and vibration immunity.

The CHO product will launch a new era in timing generation for the electronics industry, benefiting consumer electronic appliances, storage devices, peripherals and automotive applications.  By implementing the frequency reference on a single CMOS die, Mobius allows the industry to finally move beyond quartz-based crystals, or other mechanical resonators, and explore the many benefits of integration made possible only with an all-CMOS solution.