[time-nuts] Symmetricom chip scale atomic clock

SAIDJACK at aol.com SAIDJACK at aol.com
Thu Apr 24 20:50:57 UTC 2014


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
 
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**************************************** 
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.   
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**************************************** 

 
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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