New Low-Jitter Programmable Voltage-Controlled Crystal Oscillators from Epson

Epson Electronics America, Inc., the world leader in quartz crystal technology, today introduces two low-jitter programmable voltage-controlled crystal oscillators. The new products, the VG7050EAN and VG7050ECN, can be programmed over a range of 50 MHz to 800 MHz and achieve the lowest jitter (0.27 ps at 622.08 MHz) and lowest power consumption (70 mA at 3.3V) of any programmable VCXO in the industry.

Epson’s VG7050EAN and VG7050ECN “Any-Rate” programmable VCXOs enable optical transmission equipment to support multiple protocols and line rates with a single oscillator. Earlier equipment used either a single fixed-frequency oscillator which had to be swapped out to change frequencies or multiple fixed-frequency oscillators which increased board space and cost.

Seeking to solve these problems, Epson created the new low-jitter low-power programmable VCXOs by combining a highly accurate and stable high-frequency fundamental (HFF) crystal that can oscillate at a fundamental frequency over 100 MHz with a low-jitter fractional-n PLL IC. Epson’s HFF crystal technology is more reliable than 3rd overtone crystals and achieves better phase noise and jitter than low-frequency fundamental crystals. As a result, Epson’s VG7050EAN and VG7050ECN achieve the world’s lowest jitter (0.27 ps) of any programmable VCXO at both SONET (622.08 MHz) and Ethernet (156.25 MHz) frequencies.

Both the VG7050EAN and VG7050ECN are factory programmed for frequency and absolute pull range (APR). The default settings can be overwritten using an I2C bus so users can program any output frequency and APR they require. To simplify multi-protocol designs, the VG7050ECN allows four frequencies to be pin-selectable.

Moving forward, Epson will leverage its unique technological strengths in crystal microfabrication and semiconductors to provide customers with device solutions that are safe, easy to use, and dependable.

Related links
VG7050EAN: http://www5.epsondevice.com/en/quartz/product/osc/vcxo/vg7050ean.html
VG7050ECN: http://www5.epsondevice.com/en/quartz/product/osc/vcxo/vg7050ecn.html

Features and specifications

Product features

• Low noise and low jitter
  These products use an HFF crystal unit that is capable of oscillating at a fundamental frequency of 100 MHz or more. The HFF crystal unit is combined with Epson's own fractional–N PLL IC to achieve low jitter, optimize the frequency of the crystal unit, and control integer-boundary spurs.
• Low current consumption
  The maximum current consumption is 90 mA (including LVPECL terminal load drive current). Epson’s VG7050EAN and VG7050ECN are the industry’s lowest power devices in this class.
• Frequency programmable
  The output frequency can be set to any frequency between 50 MHz and 800 MHz.
• APR programmable
  Users can select the desired absolute pull range (APR) from among 12 steps within the range of 0 to ±180 × 10^-6.