Performance of wireline links synchronized to self-referenced solid-state frequency sources

Self-referenced solid state oscillators (SSOs) are presented within the context of emerging frequency control devices targeted at crystal oscillator (XO) replacement. It is shown that SSOs typically exhibit lower far-from-carrier phase noise and lower period jitter than comparable XOs. This is considered in the wireline application, HS-USB, where a comparison is presented between the measured link performance when the link is synchronized to a 12 MHz XO and SSO. It is shown that the SSO achieves superior link performance including a wider data eye and lower bit error rate while being implemented entirely in a solid-state process technology and with no external components.