Micrel Takes Low Power To New Heights With New Ultra-Low Voltage CML Product Family Featuring Unique Fail Safe

Micrel Takes Low Power To New Heights With New Ultra-Low Voltage CML Product Family Featuring Unique Fail Safe I/O Protection and Internal Termination

San Jose, Calif., July 15, 2008 —Micrel Inc., ( Nasdaq:MCRL), an industry leader in analog, high bandwidth communications, and Ethernet IC solutions, today added an Ultra-Low Voltage CML product family to its growing portfolio of high performance interface products. The initial seven products of the family, SY54011R, SY54016R/AR, SY54017R/AR, and SY54023R/AR are 1.2/1.8V Ultra-Low Voltage CML output products with a core power supply of 2.5V that can interface directly to devices powered by 1.2/1.8V supply. These seven products include a 1:2 Fanout Buffer, Differential Line Driver/Receiver, 2:1 Multiplexer, and a 2 x 2 Crosspoint Switch and operate up to 3.2GHz In addition, the SY54016R, SY54017R, and SY54023R offer Micrel’s Fail Safe Input (FSI) circuitry. Targeted applications include clock and data distribution, hot swap applications, rack-based equipment and Automatic Test Equipment. All devices are currently in volume production with pricing for 1K quantities starting at $1.54. In addition, evaluation boards are available upon request and samples can now be ordered on line on Micrel’s web site at: http://www.micrel.com/ProductList.do .

“This new family of products is the only Ultra-Low Voltage CML output family in the market featuring 1.2V outputs while offering excellent jitter performance. This makes it ideal for today’s high speed demands, which include low-noise and a need to interface and drive low voltage FPGAs and ASICs,” said Thomas S. Wong, vice president high bandwidth products. “In addition, the 1.2V operation takes low power to new heights by featuring a power reduction of up to 50 percent.”

All product AC performance is guaranteed from DC through 2.5/3.2GHz or 3.2Gbps, with rise and fall times less than 95ps for all products. The product family guarantees jitter performance to be less than 10ps p-p over temperature and voltage, operation over the full industrial temperature range (-40-degC to +85-degC), and core supply voltage operation of 2.5V and output power supply of 1.2V or 1.8V. Moreover, the devices are offered in an ultra-small 16-pin MLF ® package that saves critical space and provides low jitter, making the SY54xxx series ideal for today’s high speed, low jitter designs.

The SY54xxx series, along with the rest of Micrel’s FSI family of solutions, have been optimized to prevent unwanted oscillations and maintain output stability when an input signal’s swing collapses or disappears. Unlike existing products on the market, Micrel’s FSI design prevents a metastable output condition when the input signal is removed or the amplitude fails. This is especially crucial for rack-based equipment that has many I/O cards requiring Hot Swap capability. Furthermore, the product family offers Micrel’s patented 3-pin internal input termination, which simplifies designs and interfaces to any differential signal, AC- or DC-coupled.

About Micrel, Inc

Micrel Inc., is a leading global manufacturer of IC solutions for the worldwide analog, Ethernet and high bandwidth markets. The Company’s products include advanced mixed-signal, analog and power semiconductors; high performance communication, clock management, Ethernet switch and physical layer transceiver ICs. Company customers include leading manufacturers of enterprise, consumer, industrial, mobile, telecommunications, automotive, and computer products. Corporation headquarters and state-of-the-art wafer fabrication facilities are located in San Jose, CA, with regional sales and support offices and advanced technology design centers situated throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. In addition, the Company maintains an extensive network of distributors and reps worldwide. Web: http://www.micrel.com.

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