Bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonator technology

Bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonator technology

Enable ultra-low jitter and superior reliability for next-generation timing solutions

Bulk acoustic wave (BAW) is a resonator technology that utilizes piezoelectric transduction to generate a GHz frequency and high-Q resonance that can be integrated directly into standard plastic packages that contain other ICs. BAW can provide many advantages over the traditional quartz and MEMs resonators including streamlined manufacturability, improved flexibility, better frequency stability, and ultra-low jitter as well as enhanced reliability under harsh environmental conditions such as vibration and shock. 

Why choose our BAW technology?

checkmark

Enable industry-leading jitter performance

Integration of our BAW technology into our network synchronizer products enables ultra-low jitter performance of 42 fs.

checkmark

Built for reliability

BAW technology enables high resiliency to harsh environmental conditions such as mechanical shock and vibration and achieves 100x better MTBF compared to quartz-based solutions.

checkmark

Manufacturability

Our manufacturing process, including fabrication, assembly and packaging, mitigates supply concerns with an integrated solution that enables faster sampling and shortened lead times.

checkmark

Simplify your design

Utilize the integration of BAW into low-power wireless MCUs and clock generators to remove the need for an external crystal or oscillator, resulting in a reduction in BOM, cost and space. 

Upgrade your design with BAW technology

Realize the benefits of BAW technology's ultra-low-jitter performance

  • The ultra-low-jitter performance of bulk acoustic wave (BAW) technology helps you meet the stringent requirements of 800-Gbps and 1.6-Tbps Ethernet-based networks and 5G/6G wireless infrastructure applications.
  • The incorporation of BAW technology as a voltage-controlled oscillator into network synchronizers offers a >20-dB advantage over traditional D34 and <50-fs jitter performance.
  • A clean clocking source meets bit-error-rate requirements for EtherCAT, SerDes, Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, and Aerospace and Defense applications and FPGA clocking.
Application note
112G and 224G PAM-4 SerDes Clocking for Rapid Data Center Switches (Rev. A)
This document summarizes how BAW technology can deliver on providing ultra-low jitter clocks to meet 112G and 224G PAM4 SerDes requirements.
PDF | HTML
Application note
LMK5XXXXXS1 Network Synchronizer Compliance Test Report for PTP Profiles G.8275.1 and G.8275.2
This document explains how TI Network Synchronizers with BAW to meet PTP compliance
PDF | HTML
Featured products for Ultra-low jitter
LMK5B33216 ACTIVE 16-output, three DPLL and APLL, network synchronizer with integrated 2.5-GHz bulk-acoustic-wave VCO
LMK5C33216A ACTIVE Three DPLL, three APLL, two-input and 16-output network synchronizer with JESD204B/C and BAW VCO
LMK6C ACTIVE Low-jitter, high-performance, bulk-acoustic-wave (BAW) fixed-frequency LVCMOS oscillator

Maintain frequency accuracy over the full device lifetime

  • Bulk acoustic wave (BAW) technology provides improved stability.
  • Temperature stability of ±10 ppm over the –40°C to 125°C operating range for AEC-Q100 grade packaging option. Total frequency stability of ±25 ppm inclusive of solder shift, initial tolerance, variation from –40°C to 125°C, variation from 1.8 V to 3.3 V and 10-year aging.
Resource
Standalone BAW Oscillators Advantages Over Quartz Oscillators
This application report details TI's BAW technology, the integration of a BAW resonator with oscillator circuitry to make a standalone oscillator, and the advantages of using a BAW oscillator over a quartz oscillator. 
Technical article
Top 5 things to know about TI BAW resonator technology
This blog describes the top 5 things to know about TI BAW resonator technology including what it is, how it works and its benefits. 
PDF | HTML
Featured products for Frequency Stability
CC2652RB ACTIVE SimpleLink™ 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F multiprotocol 2.4 GHz wireless MCU with crystal-less BAW resonator
CDC6C ACTIVE Low-power, low-jitter, bulk-acoustic-wave (BAW), fixed-frequency LVCMOS oscillator
LMK3H0102 ACTIVE Bulk acoustic wave (BAW)-based PCIe Gen 1 to Gen 7-compliant referenceless clock generator

Meet all your clocking and timing needs with BAW technology

  • Competitor resonator frequencies range from a few kilohertz to a few megahertz. Our bulk acoustic wave (BAW) technology resonates at a gigahertz frequency, generating a wider range of output frequencies for different timing applications without the use of a PLL.
  • The integration of gigahertz resonator frequencies with an output divider enables the generation of frequencies from 250 kHz to 400 MHz in our oscillators and clock generators
Application note
Driving Multiple Loads With a Single LVCMOS Oscillator (Rev. B)
This application note describes how BAW LVCMOS Oscillators can be used to drive multiple loads in order to reduce PCB space and overall BOM cost.
PDF | HTML
Application note
Standalone BAW Oscillators Advantages Over Quartz Oscillators
This application report details TI's BAW technology, the integration of a BAW resonator with oscillator circuitry to make a standalone oscillator, and the advantages of using a BAW oscillator over a quartz oscillator. 
PDF | HTML
Featured products for Flexibility
CDC6C ACTIVE Low-power, low-jitter, bulk-acoustic-wave (BAW), fixed-frequency LVCMOS oscillator
LMK6H ACTIVE Low-jitter, high-performance, bulk-acoustic-wave (BAW) fixed-frequency HCSL oscillator
NEW LMK3H2104 ACTIVE 4-output, PCIe Gen 1 to Gen 7 compliant, BAW reference-less clock generator, clock mux and buffer

Integration of BAW with additional IC circuitry reduces PCB space

  • The integration of BAW technology into our oscillators, clock generators and wireless microcontrollers removes additional components and reduces printed circuit board (PCB) space.
  • Our BAW oscillators come in 3.2mm x 2.5mm, 2.5mm x 2.0mm, 2.0mm x 1.6mm, and 1.6mm x 1.2mm packages for easy drop-in replacement.
  • Integrating BAW resonators into clock generators with as small as a 3.0mm x 3.0mm package size eliminates the need for an external clock or crystal source, reducing bill of material and PCB space and simplifying the implementation in space-constrained applications.
  • Integrating BAW resonators into wireless microcontrollers removes the need for external crystal or oscillator reference clocks.
Application brief
BAW Oscillator Solutions for Building Automation (Rev. A)
This application brief describes BAW micro-resonator technology that enables the integration of high-precision and ultra-low jitter clocks directly into packages that contain other circuits.
PDF | HTML
Application note
Driving Multiple Loads With a Single LVCMOS Oscillator (Rev. B)
This application note describes how BAW LVCMOS Oscillators can be used to drive multiple loads in order to reduce PCB space and overall BOM cost.
PDF | HTML
Technical article
Going crystal-less is easy with the world's first crystal-less, wireless SimpleLin
Whether you are designing a space-constrained building security system or a power tool that will be used in a harsh physical environment, you can use BAW resonator technology. 
PDF | HTML
Featured products for Size
CC2652RB ACTIVE SimpleLink™ 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F multiprotocol 2.4 GHz wireless MCU with crystal-less BAW resonator
CDC6C ACTIVE Low-power, low-jitter, bulk-acoustic-wave (BAW), fixed-frequency LVCMOS oscillator
LMK3C0105 ACTIVE 5 output reference-less clock generator with bulk acoustic wave (BAW)

Build a more reliable system with BAW technology

  • Bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators offer many improvements over existing quartz and micro-electro mechanical resonator technologies. The primary improvement is the reliability of the BAW resonator in terms of vibration, shock, and mean-time-between-failure (MTBF) and failure-in-time (FIT) performance.
  • BAW resonators can maintain a stability of less than 2 ppb/g with no significant jitter or frequency degradation before, during or after a vibration event.
  • Under a mechanical shock of 1500 g, BAW resonators can maintain a frequency deviation <0.5 ppm and will not experience jitter degradation.
  • BAW resonators have a FIT rate of 0.3 and a MTBF of 3.3 billion hours at 35°C, equivalent to 0.3 failures over 1 billion hours of operation.
Application note
High Reliable BAW Oscillator MTBF and FIT Rate Calculations
You need to develop products that run reliably over the product lifetime and have the best MTBF for BAW oscillators. This paper provides calculations and results for MTBF and FIT values and the procedure for these calculations.
PDF | HTML
Application note
Vibration and Mechanical Shock Performance of TI BAW Oscillators
This paper provides details on BAW oscillator performance under stringent sinusoidal, random vibration, and mechanical shock conditions and describes various MIL-STD-883 test methods, test setup, and performance results.
PDF | HTML
Technical article
Beyond quartz: How BAW clocks are redefining ADAS and IVI
How BAW can provide reliable clokcing for safety-dependent automotive applications such as ADAS and IVI.
PDF | HTML
Featured products for Reliability
CDC6C ACTIVE Low-power, low-jitter, bulk-acoustic-wave (BAW), fixed-frequency LVCMOS oscillator
NEW CDC6C-Q1 ACTIVE Automotive, low-power, low-ppm, bulk-acoustic-wave (BAW), fixed-frequency LVCMOS oscillator
CC2652RB ACTIVE SimpleLink™ 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F multiprotocol 2.4 GHz wireless MCU with crystal-less BAW resonator

Manufacturing of BAW resonators mitigates supply concerns

  • TI manufactures its bulk acoustic wave (BAW) technology-based products internally, including fabrication, assembly and test.
  • Fully internal manufacturing reduces dependability on external vendors.                       
  • The integration of our BAW resonator into standard plastic packages containing other integrated circuits (ICs) enables us to support samples and mass-production devices with a single IC for multiple-frequency, output-type and voltage variants.
Featured products for Manufacturability
LMK6D ACTIVE Low-jitter, high-performance, bulk-acoustic-wave (BAW) fixed-frequency LVDS oscillator
NEW CDC6C-Q1 ACTIVE Automotive, low-power, low-ppm, bulk-acoustic-wave (BAW), fixed-frequency LVCMOS oscillator
LMK3H0102 ACTIVE Bulk acoustic wave (BAW)-based PCIe Gen 1 to Gen 7-compliant referenceless clock generator