New Chip Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC, SA 65)

Tue 24.08.2021

New Chip Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC) Provides Wider Operating Temperatures, Faster Warm-up and Improved Frequency Stability in Extreme Environments

New Microchip's SA65 CSAC for military and industrial systems features ultra-high precision and low power consumption

CHANDLER, Ariz., August 18, 2021 - Advanced military platforms, ocean-bottom survey systems and remote sensing applications all require precise timing for mission success. Chip Scale Atomic Clocks (CSACs) ensure stable and accurate timing even when Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) time signals are unavailable. Helping industrial and military system designers to meet this requirement, Microchip Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MCHP) today announced its new SA65 CSAC, providing precise timing accuracy and stability in extreme environments.

Microchip's SA65 CSAC is an embedded timing solution with improved environmental ruggedness, delivering higher performance than the previous SA.45s CSAC, including double the frequency stability over a wider temperature range and faster warm-up at cold temperatures. The SA65 has an operating temperature range of -40 to 80 degrees Celsius (oC) and a storage temperature range of -55 to 105 oC. The warm-up time of two minutes at -40 oC is 33% faster than that of the SA.45s.

Together, these SA65 CSAC performance improvements benefit designers of highly-portable solutions for military applications such as Assured Position, Navigation and Timing (A-PNT) and command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C5ISR) requiring precise frequencies generated by a low Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) atomic clock. Improvements such as fast warm-up to frequency after cold start, temperature stability over a wide operating range, and frequency accuracy and stability enabling extended operation while GNSS is denied help to ensure mission success in conflict environments.
The SA65 CSAC is the world's lowest-power commercial atomic clock and provides precise timing for portable and battery-powered applications requiring continuous operation and holdover in GNSS-denied environments. The SA65 is form-, fit- and function-compatible with the SA.45s, which minimizes risk and redesign costs for the system developer while improving performance and environmental insensitivity.

As a world leader in the research, development and manufacture of timing and synchronization solutions, Microchip has delivered more than 275,000 rubidium clocks, 138,000 CSACs, 12,500 Cesium clocks and 200 active hydrogen masers to customers worldwide.

Development Tools

The CSAC family of atomic clocks is supported by Developer Kit 990-00123-000, as well as associated software, a user guide and technical support.