Crystal Oscillators

Under the guidance of,

H V Ravish Aradhya,
Asst. Prof,
Dept. of ECE, RVCE

most important features Frequency Stability

(its ability to provide a constant frequency output

under varying conditions)

factors that affect the frequency stability:
1. temperature,
2. variations in the load and
3. changes in the power supply
How to improve Frequency stability of the output:
1. proper selection of the components used for the

resonant feedback circuit

there is a limit to the stability that can be obtained
from normalLCandRCtank circuits

For very high stability aquartz crystalis

generally used as the frequency determining

device to produce another types of oscillator circuit
known generally asCrystal Oscillators
When a voltage source is applied to a small thin

piece of crystal quartz, it begins to change shape

producing a characteristic known as thePiezoelectric Effect
Piezo-electric Effect:
piezo-electric effect is the property of a crystal by

which an electrical charge produces a mechanical

force by changing the shape of the crystal and vice

piezo-electric devices can be classed as

Transducersas they convert energy of one kind

into energy of another
piezo-electric effect produces mechanical
vibrations or oscillations
The quartz crystal used inCrystal Oscillatorsis a
very small
The physical size and thickness of a piece of quartz

crystal is tightly controlled since it affects the final

frequency of oscillations and is called the crystals
characteristic frequency
Then once cut and shaped the crystal cannot be
used at any other frequency

A mechanically vibrating crystal can be represented by

an equivalent electrical circuit consisting of low

Resistance, large Inductance and small Capacitance as
shown

A quartz crystal has a resonant frequency similar to that

of a electrically tuned tank circuit

It has much higherQfactor due to its low resistance,
with typical frequencies ranging from 4kHz to 10MHz.

The cut of the crystal also determines how it will

behave as some crystals will vibrate at more than

one frequency.
if the crystal is not of a parallel or uniform

thickness it will have two or more resonant

frequencies having both a fundamental frequency
and harmonics such as second or third harmonics
Fundamental frequency is more stronger.
WKT, an amplifier circuit will oscillate if it has a loop

gain greater or equal to 1 and it has positive

feedback

The equivalent circuit above has three reactive

components and there are two resonant

frequencies:
Lower is a series type frequency and
Higher a parallel type resonant frequency
In aCrystal Oscillatorcircuit, the oscillator will

oscillate at the fundamental series resonant

frequency of the crystal, as the crystal always
wants to oscillate when a voltage source is applied
to it
it is also possible to "tune" a crystal oscillator to

any even harmonic of the fundamental frequency,

Overtone Oscillatorsvibrate at odd multiples of

the fundamental frequency, 3rd, 5th, 11th etc

Generally, crystal oscillators that operate at

overtone frequencies do so using their series

resonant frequency
The frequency of oscillations for Crystal Oscillators

is given as:

A series resonant crystal has the following values

after being cut,R = 1k,C = 0.05pFandL = 3H.

Calculate the fundamental frequency of oscillations
of the crystal

A series resonant crystal has the following values

after being cut,R = 1k,C = 0.05pFandL = 3H.

Calculate the fundamental frequency of oscillations
of the crystal
The frequency of oscillations for Crystal Oscillators

is given as:

Then the fundamental frequency of oscillations for

RC Phase-Shift Network

Phase Angle

Basic RC Oscillator Circuit

If all the resistors,Rand the capacitors,Care equal in

value, then the frequency of oscillations produced by the

oscillator is given as
fis the Output Frequency in Hertz
R is the Resistance in Ohms
C is the Capacitance in Farads
N is the number ofRCstages and in our example N = 3

Determine the frequency of oscillations of aRC

Oscillatorcircuit having 3-stages each with a

resistor and capacitor of equal values.R =
10kandC = 500pF

Determine the frequency of oscillations of aRC

Oscillatorcircuit having 3-stages each with a

resistor and capacitor of equal values.R =
10kandC = 500pF
The frequency of oscillations for a RC Oscillator is

given as:

The circuit is a 3-stage oscillator which consists of

three 10k resistors and three 500pF capacitors

therefore the frequency of oscillation is given as: