Cypress Ships Clock Chips Qualified for Intel’s Alviso Chipset

July 19, 2004

Cypress Semiconductor Corp., a world leader in timing technology solutions, today announced sample availability of a unique two-device solution that fully addresses timing and electromagnetic interference (EMI) reduction requirements of notebook PCs. Intel has qualified Cypress’s frequency timing generator (CY28411) and Peak Reducing EMI Solutions (Premis™) spread spectrum clock generator (CY25823) as meeting its CK410m and CK-SSCD specifications and definitions for its low-power Alviso platform for notebook PCs.

Over the past few years the difference in cost and performance between desktop and notebook PCs has diminished. But while notebook PCs have made significant performance improvements, their narrow profiles have caused EMI to become a major issue for manufacturers. Cypress has taken a system-level approach to solving this problem by combining a high-performance reference clock generator with an EMI-minimizing spread-spectrum clock generator.

“Over the next five years, we expect the PC notebook market segment -- many based on the Intel chipsets-- to grow at a much higher rate than the desktop market,” said Elie Ayache, director of marketing for Cypress’s Timing Technology Division. “By qualifying our world-class timing devices with the widely used Intel platform, Cypress is poised to meet this increased market demand.”

The CY28411 is a system main clock generator designed to generate all frequency and timing signals required for an Alviso-based notebook PC. The device supports all timing requirements for the processor, memory controllers, graphics, USB, Serial ATA and PCI Express. Additionally, the CY28411 integrates state-of-the-art spread-spectrum technology to help reduce EMI across the entire system.

The CY25823 is a spread-spectrum clock generator (SSCG) designed as a companion chip to the CY28411. It completes the EMI reduction solution by providing a differential spread-spectrum clock (SSC) output that reduces the EMI found in a typical notebook PC LCD display. Designers can select multiple combinations of processor frequency and spread-spectrum clocking features through the I2C programmable interface.

AvailabilityBoth the CY28411 and the CY25823 are available now. The CY28411 comes in either a 56-pin TSSOP priced at $3.98 per unit in 1,000 unit quantities or in a 56-pin SSOP for $3.64 per unit in 1,000 unit quantities. The CY25823 is available in a 16-pin TSSOP for $1.30 per unit in 1,000 unit quantities.

The original press release can be found here.