[time-nuts] Symmetricom chip scale atomic clock

Said Jackson saidjack at aol.com
Thu Apr 24 21:26:45 EDT 2014


Hi Magnus, Bob,

Thanks much for your kind words.

The failure rate is thankfully so low that we are not greatly alarmed, and Microsemi has been a champ in resolving any failures with/for us when they did show up. We are awaiting the results of the full re-qualify that Microsemi is doing on the CSAC and were going to announce the issue at that time..

Bye,
Said

Sent From iPhone

On Apr 24, 2014, at 17:41, Bob Camp <lists at rtty.us> wrote:

> Hi
> 
> I seem to have been in exactly the same position many times before and also wish you well in resolving this (as I’m *certain* will be the case). 
> 
> Bob
> 
> On Apr 24, 2014, at 7:48 PM, Magnus Danielson <magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org> wrote:
> 
>> Said,
>> 
>> I recognize this situation so well. Feel with you on the issue and hope you find that it resolve itself nicely.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Magnus
>> 
>> On 04/24/2014 10:50 PM, SAIDJACK at aol.com wrote:
>>> Hello everyone,
>>> 
>>> let me address the below claims and commentary which was posted without
>>> first consulting with us.
>>> 
>>> Microsemi has recently seen a slightly higher failure rate of the CSAC
>>> oscillators than expected. A small percentage of our customers have been
>>> adversely affected by this issue. We have been, and will continue to take care
>>> of this issue when it happens to units we sold by doing a warranty exchange
>>> of  the CSAC for the affected customer unit, even if it should fall out of
>>> its normal warranty period.
>>> 
>>> We believe in supporting our customers to the maximum extent possible, and
>>> of course want to deliver a product that has the highest level of quality
>>> possible. That said, we must remember that the CSAC technology is a ground
>>> breaking, never-before-done in commercial quantities, absolutely new type of
>>> oscillator technology, and being at the forefront of such a technology
>>> sometimes  means there is a bit of a learning curve to deal with. This is one
>>> of the main  reasons why no one else in the world besides Microsemi makes
>>> CSAC type products  for commercial sale.
>>> 
>>> So all in all, if a customer unit should get affected by this problem then
>>> the issue will be addressed by us and Microsemi with a quick turn around
>>> and a "no questions asked" approach, and we hope that this approach sets us
>>> positively apart from the competition.
>>> 
>>> Lastly, we received the below comments/explanation from Microsemi  about
>>> this issue which we have permission to share with you, and this  should help
>>> alleviate the problem for new orders.
>>> 
>>> Sincerely,
>>> Said
>>> 
>>> ****************************************************************************
>>> ****************************************
>>> Some Symmetricom (now  Microsemi) Chip Scale Atomic Clocks have shown a
>>> failure mode that will manifest  itself as an inability of the clock to achieve
>>> atomic lock.  If the CSAC’s  telemetry string is monitored, the failure
>>> mode will show up as a Status Level  8.  Microsemi’s investigation into the
>>> problem uncovered three distinct  root causes, although the symptom the user
>>> observes is always a Status Level 8,  regardless of which root cause is the
>>> underlying issue.  It is important to  note that all three root causes are
>>> process issues, not design  issues.
>>> All three root causes  have been addressed, and Microsemi is currently
>>> producing CSAC’s with all three  fixes implemented.  A full re-qualification of
>>> the CSAC is also being done,  to ensure that the fixes are effective.  CSAC’
>>> s already in the field that  exhibit this failure mode have been, and will
>>> continue to be, replaced under  warranty.
>>> ****************************************************************************
>>> ****************************************
>>> 
>>> 
>>> In a message dated 4/24/2014 10:16:25 Pacific Daylight Time,
>>> lester at veenstras.com writes:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Affected Products: Jackson Labs or Symmetricom time/frequency  reference
>>> boards based on Symmetricom chip scale atomic  clock
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