
MC13211/212/213/214 Technical Data, Rev. 0.0,
22
Freescale Semiconductor
The IEEE 802.15.4 Standard requires that several frequency tolerances be kept within ± 40 ppm accuracy.
This means that a total offset up to 80 ppm between transmitter and receiver will still result in acceptable
performance. The primary determining factor in meeting this specification is the tolerance of the crystal
oscillator reference frequency. A number of factors can contribute to this tolerance and a crystal
specification will quantify each of them:
1. The initial (or make) tolerance of the crystal resonant frequency itself.
2. The variation of the crystal resonant frequency with temperature.
3. The variation of the crystal resonant frequency with time, also commonly known as aging.
4. The variation of the crystal resonant frequency with load capacitance, also commonly known as
pulling. This is affected by:
a) The external load capacitor values - initial tolerance and variation with temperature.
b) The internal trim capacitor values - initial tolerance and variation with temperature.
c) Stray capacitance on the crystal pin nodes - including stray on-chip capacitance, stray package
capacitance and stray board capacitance; and its initial tolerance and variation with
temperature.
Freescale has specified that a 16 MHz crystal with a <9 pF load capacitance is required. The 802.15.4
modem does not contain a reference divider, so 16 MHz is the only frequency that can be used. A crystal
requiring higher load capacitance is prohibited because a higher load on the amplifier circuit may
compromise its performance. The crystal manufacturer defines the load capacitance as that total external
capacitance seen across the two terminals of the crystal. The oscillator amplifier configuration used in the
802.15.4 modem requires two balanced load capacitors from each terminal of the crystal to ground. As
such, the capacitors are seen to be in series by the crystal, so each must be <18 pF for proper loading.
The modem uses the 16 MHz crystal oscillator as the reference oscillator for the system and a
programmable warp capability is provided. It is controlled by programming CLKO_Ctl Register 0A, Bits
15-8 (xtal_trim[
7:0]). The trimming procedure varies the frequency by a few hertz per step, depending on
the type of crystal. The high end of the frequency spectrum is set when xtal_trim[7
:0] is set to zero. As
xtal_trim[7:0] is increased, the frequency is decreased. Accuracy of this feature can be observed by
varying xtal_trim[
7:0] and using a spectrum analyzer or frequency counter to track the change in
frequency of the crystal signal. The reference oscillator frequency can be measured at the CLKO contact
by programming CLKO_Ctl Register 0A, Bits 2-0, to value 000.