FleXO™ - High-Performance Clock Generator Family

Cypress recently introduced the FleXO™ family of programmable high-performance clock generators. The new clocks deliver ultra-low phase jitter as low as 0.6 ps (typical) across the 12 kHz to 20 MHz range, exceeding the requirements of demanding high-speed serial interface standards such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel, PCI Express and Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA).

The flexible clocks can be instantly programmed in the factory or field to instantly generate frequencies from 50...690 MHz, including non-standard frequencies often required to optimize performance of an FPGA or ASIC. Designers can adjust the output frequency of a FleXO clock via simple pin selection or I²C programming to allow usage of a single device across a family of hardware platforms.

FleXO clock generators support frequency margining, which enables designers to vary clock frequency with 0.2 ppm precision to test system robustness across potential frequency fluctuations. The FleXO family is available in a broad array of synthesizer, VCO and crystal-inside XO and VCXO options to support a variety of applications.

FleXO clock generators employ powerful, programmable Phase Locked-Loop technology, which can be used in integer or Frac-N mode, to synthesize and tightly control the frequency of ultra-low noise clock signals using a standard low-cost crystal input. These solutions provide a strong alternative to expensive and inflexible SAW oscillators and overtone crystal oscillators.

The family is ideal for switches and routers, 3G wireless base stations, Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) hubs, and any system requiring high-performance clocks.