Nov. 13, 2006 — SiTime, a Sunnyvale, Calif., company that makes MEMS-based, all silicon timing solutions, and Micro Crystal, a division of Swatch and a European leader in the frequency control market, have begun a strategic partnership to develop, promote, and distribute MEMS-based oscillator products.

Founded in 1978 in Grenchen, Switzerland, as a producer of watch crystals, Micro Crystal has become the leading supplier of miniature quartz crystals for virtually every kind of electronic appliances. Today the three plants in Switzerland, Thailand and China, with more than 850 employees, produce several hundred million crystals per year.

The announcement comes just a little over two weeks since Ecliptek Corp. of Cosa Mesa, Calif., a leading provider of quartz crystal timing solutions, announced it had begun sampling its new EMO family of MEMS oscillators, which also use SiTime resonators and technology.

SiTime introduced its first MEMS-based silicon oscillator product to the market in April 2006 using proprietary processing technology licensed from Robert Bosch GmbH. The technology, married with advanced mixed signal ASICs, has enabled SiTime to provide timing system solutions that it says are smaller, exhibit higher functionality, are more reliable, and are more cost competitive than the quartz timing solutions that dominate electronic timing.

SiTime is targeting its resonators and oscillators at high performance and cost conscious applications in a broad spectrum of markets including consumer electronics, automotive, computer and industrial.

“We are pleased to enter this long-term partnership with SiTime. Their advanced MEMS technology, coupled with Micro Crystal’s long history of innovation in the frequency control market, will result in new products of a size, performance, and reliability that will be unmatched in the industry. These technical advantages will be enhanced by Micro Crystal’s quality service to our customers,” said Hans Rudolf Gottier, CEO of Micro Crystal, in a prepared statement.

“We look forward to this joint product development with Micro Crystal to meet the next-generation frequency control requirements of the electronics industry. As Micro Crystal is part of the Swatch group of companies, they are uniquely positioned to take full advantage of the many features of these new resonators,” said Kurt Petersen, CEO of SiTime Corp., in a prepared statement.