Clocks underpin the performance of every electronic device. Often referred to as the chip industry's metronome, clocks synchronize data signals to ensure reliable system performance. But instead of keeping the beat for soloists, today's timing devices are conducting entire orchestras as they play across multiple data interconnect paths.
The leading provider of clock and timing IC solutions, Renesas has long been at the forefront of this critical but underappreciated technology, which provides the digital pulse for almost all electronic systems.
We interviewed Zaher Baidas, Vice President and General Manager of the Renesas Timing Product Division, to understand how he and his team are helping customers manage runaway data growth in the age of generative AI, blazing-fast networks, and smart vehicles.
Renesas: From your vantage point, how has data processing changed clock and timing technology since you began working in the field?
Zaher: Data growth is a never-ending game of speed and efficiency. At the risk of giving away my age, I recall that when I was at university, I got really excited when I upgraded my dial-up modem to 56 kilobits per second. Last weekend, I was fighting with my home Wi-Fi to get it above 500 megabits because I thought it was too slow.
In addition to speed, there is integration. Network and compute clocks used to be separate. Now, AI is bringing multiple interconnects and ASICs with ultra-high bandwidth to the same accelerator card. Everything is integrated on the same board.
Renesas: Speaking for Renesas, how is the clock and timing industry different today?
Zaher: When I started my career in timing, this was a very fragmented market with many competitors. It seemed like everybody had a clock division, but no single vendor offered multiple types of products. You could be going to vendor A for your timing card synchronizer, vendor B to get your line card jitter attenuators integrated, and a third vendor for your clock buffers.
Renesas changed all that by starting a journey to develop a broad-based portfolio with end-to-end timing solutions. Customers don't want to work with three vendors for their clock trees, they want us to anticipate and take risks. When they needed a PCIe Gen7 clock generator, we didn't say, "Ok, we’ll develop it." We sent them samples the same week. That's because we started developing the clock IP two or three years earlier. And that's why we were able to release our PCIe Gen7 products last year, a year ahead of the final spec 1.0 release.
Today, Renesas can provide every customer with an entire clock tree, and we love to remind them that we're the only one-stop timing shop in the industry. If you need it, we have it.
Renesas: Advanced communications systems and genAI data centers produce immense volumes of data. How does Renesas help your customers keep data traffic organized?
Zaher: For Renesas, when data gets faster, our customers need a cleaner signal with lower noise, or what we call jitter in the clocking world. Renesas has been leading clock development for over 30 years by preparing for the acceleration of data centers and high-speed communications systems. Our ability to anticipate these trends is how we stay on top, and we do that through active participation in standards bodies and heavy engagement by our system architects with our ecosystem partners.
Renesas: Are there similarities between data-hungry wired applications like data centers and wireless systems like 5G cellular?
Zaher: There are similarities in that both require much better clocks with much tighter timing and jitter specs for the reference clock. Compared to 4G/LTE networks, for example, 5G adds another level of complexity. The RF transmission bands are higher, and that requires significantly better jitter performance and in-band phase noise at multiple frequencies.
Renesas: In addition to clock oscillators, generators, and buffers, the Renesas clock and timing portfolio consists mainly of three families: VersaClock®, FemtoClock™, and ClockMatrix™. How do they complement each other?
Zaher: We intentionally picked these names. VersaClock is the versatile clock family. It is the Swiss army knife and your standard go-to programmable timing device with a small footprint. FemtoClock is our performance-driven family with best-in-class phase noise and femto-second-level jitter.
The third family is close to my heart because it's where I started as a design lead at Renesas. The ClockMatrix family includes clock SoCs with a matrix of network synchronization, frequency measurements, jitter attenuation, and of course, clock generation functions integrated. This family is designed for wireline networks that demand compliance with multiple telecom standards like IEEE 1588 for synchronizing clocks in networked systems.
Renesas: Renesas is known for its extensive design support. What can customers expect from support tools such as the Renesas IC Toolbox and Lab on the Cloud?
Zaher: Our philosophy is that it's not nearly enough to have the best product. The key is to also have the best customer support, and we believe that we do. The Renesas IC Toolbox, or RICBox, is an easy-to-use GUI for configuring all of our timing devices. Lab on the Cloud comes later in the design process and provides a place where customers can test their clock configurations online. If they have issues, they have access to our responsive app support team and FAEs.
Because this truly is a global industry, these kinds of cloud-based automated design tools have become an essential part of the Renesas development strategy.
Renesas: What are a couple of notable examples where Renesas embedded its clocks and timing devices into a Winning Combination offering?
Zaher: Our timing devices complement Renesas' core businesses in MPUs, MCUs, and automotive. One Winning Combo example included the Renesas RZ MPU with our clock matrix synchronizer and IEEE 1588 software. Our VersaClock solutions have also been incorporated with Renesas R-Car SoCs into a Winning Combo for automotive cockpit and ADAS applications.
What's unique is that these are not just proven system solutions. Winning Combos allow us to work with our sister business units during the early stages of product development. Sometimes we work together even before we finalize our silicon, which allows us to collaborate iteratively to deliver an even better timing solution.
Renesas: Where do you see the clocks and timing sector in several years? How is Renesas preparing for the future?
Zaher: The need for speed will never stop – no matter if you're inside a giant data center, talking to next-gen communication networks, or driving a smart vehicle. On top of that, AI, automotive ECUs, and many other applications are getting more complex and size-limited, which pushed demand for even smaller devices with lower power and higher output count.
Basically, the industry wants it all, but if we wait for the next generation to show up, we will have missed the boat. That's why we're actively developing technology to address customer needs that are still three years out. It's the way we've always done it, and it's what we intend to keep doing.