许多数字应用依赖于冷却系统，以将工作温度保持在设计限制内，其通常为-40°C至+ 85°C对于工业应用。但冷却系统可能会失败，例如如果风扇发生故障，并且这可能导致环境温度会增加高于系统设计限制，在某些情况下以极端值达到或超过+ 125°C。
Ideally, systems should maintain normal operation during these fault conditions. Sustaining continuous operation can be critical for many systems, for example with cellular base stations which should maintain basic service to support emergency calls. Therefore system designers should choose components to achieve maximum reliability. One of the most vitally important components of any digital system is the oscillator. It provides the synchronization signal for the entire system and is therefore sometimes referred to as the “heartbeat of the system.”
就像人体中的心脏一样，振荡器的故障将导致整个系统失败。汽车级晶体振荡器（XO），可常常运行高达+ 125°C并满足许多应用的要求，通常可用。但是，诸如温度控制的晶体振荡器（TCXO）和烤箱控制的晶体振荡器（OCXO）之类的精密振荡器是罕见的，非常难以找到的。对于某些应用程序，例如为蜂窝基站提供回程服务的同步以太网（Synce），IEEE 1588和电信边界/从时钟，重要的是要了解这些设备在其额定温度范围之外的表现如何，以便确定系统可以在故障条件期间维护服务。
