33

Analog Applications J ournal August 2000 Analog and Mixed-Signal Products

Design of op amp sine wave oscillators
Criteria for oscillation
T he canoni cal form of a feedback system
1
i s shown i n
Fi gure 1, and Equati on 1 descri bes the performance of
any feedback system ( an ampli fi er wi th passi ve feedback
components consti tutes a feedback system) .
(1)
Osci llati on results from an unstable state; i .e., the feed-
back system cant fi nd a stable state because i ts transfer
functi on cant be sati sfi ed. Equati on 1 becomes unstable
when ( 1+A) = 0 because A/0 i s an undefi ned state. T hus,
the key to desi gni ng an osci llator i s to i nsure that A = 1
( called the Barkhausen cri teri on) , or usi ng complex math
the equi valent expressi on i s A = 1180. T he 180
phase shi ft cri teri on appli es to negati ve feedback systems,
and 0 phase shift appliesto positive feedback systems.
T he output voltage of a feedback system heads for
i nfi ni te voltage when A = 1. When the output voltage
approaches ei ther power rai l, the acti ve devi ces i n the
ampli fi ers change gai n, causi ng the value of A to change
so the value of A 1; thus, the
charge to i nfi ni te voltage slows down
and eventually halts. At thi s poi nt one
of three thi ngs can occur. Fi rst, non-
linearity in saturation or cutoff can cause
the system to become stable and lock
up. Second, the i ni ti al charge can cause
the system to saturate ( or cut off) and
stay that way for a long ti me before i t
becomes li near and heads for the oppo-
si te power rai l. T hi rd, the system stays
li near and reverses di recti on, headi ng
for the opposi te power rai l. Alternati ve
two produces hi ghly di storted osci lla-
ti ons ( usually quasi square waves) ,
and the resulti ng osci llators are called
relaxati on osci llators. Alternati ve three
produces si ne wave osci llators.
All osci llator ci rcui ts were bui lt wi th
T LV247X op amps, 5% resi stors, and
+
=
A 1
A
V
V
I N
OUT
20% capaci tors; hence, component tolerances cause differ-
ences between ideal and measured values.
Phase shift in oscillators
T he 180 phase shi ft i n the equati on A = 1180 i s
i ntroduced by acti ve and passi ve components. Li ke any
well-desi gned feedback ci rcui t, osci llators are made
dependent on passi ve component phase shi ft because i t i s
accurate and almost dri ft-free. T he phase shi ft contri buted
by acti ve components i s mi ni mi zed because i t vari es wi th
temperature, has a wi de i ni ti al tolerance, and i s devi ce-
dependent. Ampli fi ers are selected such that they con-
tri bute li ttle or no phase shi ft at the osci llati on frequency.
A si ngle pole RL or RC ci rcui t contri butes up to 90
phase shi ft per pole, and because 180 i s requi red for
osci llati on, at least two poles must be used i n osci llator
desi gn. An LC ci rcui t has two poles; thus, i t contri butes up
to 180 phase shi ft per pole pai r, but LC and LR osci llators
are not consi dered here because low frequency i nductors
are expensi ve, heavy, bulky, and non-i deal. LC osci llators
are desi gned i n hi gh-frequency appli cati ons, beyond the
frequency range of voltage feedback op amps, where the
i nductor si ze, wei ght, and cost are less si gni fi cant. Multi ple
RC secti ons are used i n low-frequency osci llator desi gn i n
li eu of i nductors.
Phase shi ft determi nes the osci llati on frequency because
the ci rcui t osci llates at the frequency that accumulates
180 phase shi ft. T he rate of change of phase wi th
frequency, d/dt, determi nes frequency stabi li ty. When
buffered RC secti ons ( an op amp buffer provi des hi gh-
i nput and low-output i mpedance) are cascaded, the phase
shi ft multi pli es by the number of secti ons, n ( see Fi gure 2) .
Texas Instruments Incorporated Amplifiers: Op Amps
By Ron Mancini
Senior Application Specialist, Operational Amplifiers
Figure 1. Canonical formof a feedback circuit

V
IN
V
OUT

Figure 2. Phase plot of RC sections

0
-45
-90
-135
-180
-225
-270
-315
-360
0.01 0.1 1 10 100
NormalizedFrequency
P
h
a
s
e

S
h
i
f
t
,





(
D
e
g
r
e
e
s
)

1RC section
2RC sections
4RC sections
3RC sections
Continued on next page
component i n the feedback loop, to automati c gai n control
( AGC) loops, to li mi ti ng by external components.
Wien-bridge oscillator
Fi gure 3 gi ves the Wi en-bri dge ci rcui t confi gurati on. T he
loop i s broken at the posi ti ve i nput, and the return si gnal
i s calculated i n Equati on 2 below.
When = 2f = 1/RC, the feed-
back i s i n phase ( thi s i s posi ti ve
feedback) , and the gai n i s 1/3, so
osci llati on requi res an ampli fi er wi th
a gai n of 3. When R
F
= 2R
G
, the
ampli fi er gai n i s 3 and osci llati on
occurs at f = 1/2RC. T he ci rcui t
osci llated at 1.65 kHz rather than
1.59 kHz wi th the component values
shown i n Fi gure 3, but the di storti on
Although two cascaded RC secti ons provi de 180 phase
shi ft, d/dt at the osci llator frequency i s low, thus osci llators
made wi th two cascaded RC secti ons have poor frequency
stabi li ty. T hree equal cascaded RC fi lter secti ons have a
hi gher d/dt, and the resulti ng osci llator has i mproved
frequency stabi li ty. Addi ng a fourth RC secti on produces
an osci llator wi th an excellent d/dt, thus thi s i s the most
stable osci llator confi gurati on. Four secti ons are the
maxi mum number used because op amps come i n quad
packages, and the four-secti on osci llator yi elds four si ne
waves that are 45 phase shi fted relati ve to each other, so
thi s osci llator can be used to obtai n si ne/cosi ne or quadra-
ture si ne waves.
Crystal or cerami c resonators make the most stable
osci llators because resonators have an extremely hi gh d/dt
resulti ng from thei r non-li near properti es. Resonators are
used for hi gh-frequency osci llators, but low-frequency
osci llators do not use resonators because of si ze, wei ght,
and cost restri cti ons. Op amps are not used wi th crystal or
cerami c resonator osci llators because op amps have low
bandwi dth. Experi ence shows that i t i s more cost-effecti ve
to bui ld a hi gh-frequency crystal osci llator and count down
the output to obtai n a low frequency than i t i s to use a
low-frequency resonator.
Gain in oscillators
T he osci llator gai n must equal one ( A = 1180) at the
osci llati on frequency. T he ci rcui t becomes stable when the
gai n exceeds one and osci llati ons cease. When the gai n
exceeds one wi th a phase shi ft of 180, the acti ve devi ce
non-li neari ty reduces the gai n to one. T he non-li neari ty
happens when the ampli fi er swi ngs close to ei ther power
rai l because cutoff or saturati on reduces the acti ve devi ce
( transi stor) gai n. T he paradox i s that worst-case desi gn
practi ce requi res nomi nal gai ns exceedi ng one for manu-
facturabi li ty, but excess gai n causes more di storti on of the
output si ne wave.
When the gai n i s too low, osci llati ons cease under worst-
case condi ti ons, and when the gai n i s too hi gh, the output
wave form looks more li ke a square wave than a si ne wave.
Di storti on i s a di rect result of excess gai n overdri vi ng the
ampli fi er; thus, gai n must be carefully controlled i n low-
di storti on osci llators. Phase-shi ft osci llators have di storti on,
but they achi eve low-di storti on output voltages because
cascaded RC secti ons act as di storti on fi lters. Also, buffered
phase-shi ft osci llators have low di storti on because the gai n
i s controlled and di stri buted among the buffers.
Some ci rcui t confi gurati ons ( Wi en-bri dge) or low-
distortion specifications require an auxiliary circuit to adjust
the gai n. Auxi li ary ci rcui ts range from i nserti ng a non-li near
Texas Instruments Incorporated Amplifiers: Op Amps
34
Analog Applications J ournal Analog and Mixed-Signal Products August 2000
(2)
where s = j and j = 1.
,
RC
1
RC j 3
1
RCs
1
RCs 3
1
Cs
1
R
1 RCs
R
1 RCs
R
V
V
OUT
RET URN

+
=
+ +
=
+ +
+
+
=
Figure 3. Wien-bridge circuit schematic
10k
10n
10k
+5V

+
20k
R
F
=2R
G
10k R
G
R
C
10n C
R
0.833V
TLV2471
V
OUT
Lamp
R
L
R
F
+V
-V

+
R
C
C R
V
OUT
Figure 4. Wien-bridge oscillator with
non-linear feedback
Continued fromprevious page
Texas Instruments Incorporated Amplifiers: Op Amps
35
Analog Applications J ournal August 2000 Analog and Mixed-Signal Products
i s noti ceable. Fi gure 4 shows a Wi en-bri dge ci rcui t wi th
non-li near feedback. T he lamp resi stance, R
L
, i s nomi nally
selected as half the feedback resi stance, R
F
, at the lamp
current establi shed by R
F
and R
L
. T he non-li near relati on-
shi p between the lamp current and resi stance keeps output
voltage changes small.
Some ci rcui ts use di ode li mi ti ng i n place of a non-li near
feedback component. T he di odes reduce the di storti on by
provi di ng a soft li mi t for the output voltage. AGC must be
used when nei ther of these techni ques yi elds low di storti on.
A typi cal Wi en-bri dge osci llator wi th an AGC ci rcui t i s
shown i n Fi gure 5.
T he negati ve si ne wave i s sampled by D
1
, and the sample
i s stored on C
1
. R
1
and R
2
are chosen to center the bi as
on Q
1
so that ( R
G
+ R
Q1
) = R
F
/2 at the desi red output
voltage. When the output voltage dri fts hi gh, Q
1
i ncreases
resi stance, thus decreasi ng the gai n. I n the osci llator
shown i n Fi gure 3, the 0.833-volt power supply i s appli ed
to the posi ti ve op amp i nput to center the output qui es-
cent voltage at V
CC
/2 = 2.5 V.
Phase-shift oscillator (one op amp)
A phase-shi ft osci llator can be bui lt wi th one op amp as
shown i n Fi gure 6.
T he normal assumpti on i s that the phase-shi ft secti ons
are i ndependent of each other. T hen Equati on 3 i s wri tten:
(3)
T he loop phase shift is 180 when the phase shift of each
secti on i s 60, and thi s occurs when = 2f = 1.732/RC
because the tangent 60 = 1.73. T he magni tude of at thi s
poi nt i s ( 1/2)
3
, so the gai n, A, must be equal to 8 for the
system gai n to be equal to 1.
T he osci llati on frequency wi th the component values
shown i n Fi gure 6 i s 3.76 kHz rather than the calculated
3
1 RCs
1
A A

+
= osci llati on frequency of 2.76 kHz. Also, the gai n requi red
to start osci llati on i s 26 rather than the calculated gai n of 8.
T hese di screpanci es are parti ally due to component vari a-
ti ons, but the bi ggest contri buti ng factor i s the i ncorrect
assumpti on that the RC secti ons do not load each other.
T hi s ci rcui t confi gurati on was very popular when acti ve
components were large and expensi ve, but now op amps
are i nexpensi ve and small and come four i n a package, so
the si ngle op amp phase-shi ft osci llator i s losi ng populari ty.
Figure 5. Wien-bridge oscillator with AGC
R
C
R
C
R
F
+V
-V
V
OUT
R
G
Q
1
R
1
R
2
D
1
C
1
+

Figure 6. Phase-shift oscillator (one op amp)

2.5V
+5V
+

V
OUT
TLV2471
1.5M
55.2k
R
G
R
F
10k 10k 10k
10n
R R R
C
10n
C
10n
C
Continued on next page
Texas Instruments Incorporated Amplifiers: Op Amps
36
Analog Applications J ournal Analog and Mixed-Signal Products August 2000
Buffered phase-shift oscillator
T he buffered phase-shi ft osci llator shown i n Fi gure 7 osci l-
lated at 2.9 kHz compared to an i deal frequency of 2.76
kHz, and i t osci llated wi th a gai n of 8.33 compared to an
i deal gai n of 8.
T he buffers prevent the RC secti ons from loadi ng each
other, hence the buffered phase-shi ft osci llator performs
closer to the calculated frequency and gai n. T he gai n set-
ti ng resi stor, R
G
, loads the thi rd RC secti on, and i f the
fourth op amp i n a quad op amp buffers thi s RC secti on, the
performance becomes i deal. Low-di storti on si ne waves can
be obtained from either phase-shift oscillator, but the purest
si ne wave i s taken from the output of the last RC secti on.
T hi s i s a hi gh-i mpedance node, so a hi gh-i mpedance i nput
i s mandated to prevent loadi ng and frequency shi fti ng
wi th load vari ati ons.
Quadrature oscillator
T he quadrature osci llator i s another type of phase-shi ft
osci llator, but the three RC secti ons are confi gured so that
each secti on contri butes 90 of phase shi ft. T he outputs
are labeled si ne and cosi ne ( quadrature) because there i s
a 90 phase shi ft between op amp outputs ( see Fi gure 8) .
T he loop gai n i s calculated i n Equati on 4.
(4)
When R
1
C
1
= R
2
C
2
= R
3
C
3
, Equati on 4 reduces to
Equati on 5.
(5)
When = 1/RC, Equati on 5 reduces to 1180, so
osci llati on occurs at = 2f = 1/RC. T he test ci rcui t osci l-
lated at 1.65 kHz rather than the calculated 1.59 kHz, and
the di screpancy i s attri buted to component vari ati ons.
2
RCs) (
1
A =

+
+

=
1) s C R s( C R
1 s C R
s C R
1
A
2 2 3 3
3 3
1 1
Figure 8. Quadrature oscillator
2.5V
+5V
10k
R
1
C
1
10k
R
2
10n C2
1/2TLV2472
10n
10k
C
3
10n
V
OUT
Cosine
R
3
V
OUT
Sine
1/2TLV2472
+

Continued fromprevious page

Figure 7. Buffered phase-shift oscillator
2.5V
+5V
+

V
OUT
1.5M
180k
R
G
R
F
10k
10n
R
C
1/4TLV2474
+

10k
10k
R
R
10n
C
10n
C
1/4TLV2474 1/4TLV2474
Texas Instruments Incorporated Amplifiers: Op Amps
37
Analog Applications J ournal August 2000 Analog and Mixed-Signal Products
Bubba oscillator
T he Bubba osci llator ( Fi gure 9) i s
another phase-shi ft osci llator, but i t
takes advantage of the quad op amp
package to yield some unique advantages.
Four RC secti ons requi re 45 phase shi ft
per secti on, so thi s osci llator has an
excellent d/dt to mi ni mi ze frequency
dri ft. T he RC secti ons each contri bute
45 phase shi ft, so taki ng outputs from
alternate secti ons yi elds low-i mpedance
quadrature outputs. When an output i s
taken from each op amp, the ci rcui t
deli vers four 45 phase-shi fted si ne
waves. T he loop equati on i s:
(6)
When = 1/RCs, Equati on 6 reduces
to Equati ons 7 and 8.
(7)
(8)
T he gai n, A, must equal 4 for osci llati on to occur. T he
test ci rcui t osci llated at 1.76 kHz rather than the i deal fre-
quency 1.72 kHz when the gai n was 4.17 rather than the
i deal gai n of 4. Wi th low gai n, A, and low bi as current op
amps, the gai n setti ng resi stor, R
G
, does not load the last
RC secti on thus i nsuri ng osci llator frequency accuracy. Very
low-di storti on si ne waves can be obtai ned from the j uncti on
of R and R
G
. When low-di storti on si ne waves are requi red
at all outputs, the gai n should be di stri buted between all
the op amps. T he non-i nverti ng i nput of the gai n op amp i s
bi ased at 0.5 V to set the qui escent output voltage at 2.5 V.
Gai n di stri buti on requi res bi asi ng of the other op amps,
but i t has no effect on the osci llator frequency.
Summary
Op amp osci llators are restri cted to the lower end of the
frequency spectrum because op amps do not have the
requi red bandwi dth to achi eve low phase shi ft at hi gh
frequenci es. T he new current feedback op amps are very
hard to use i n osci llator ci rcui ts because they are sensi ti ve
to feedback capaci tance. Voltage feedback op amps are
li mi ted to a few hundred kHz because they accumulate too
much phase shi ft.
= =

45 1 Tan Phase
1
4
1
2
1
j 1
1
4
4
= =

+
=
4
1 RCs
1
A A

+
=
Figure 9. Bubba oscillator
0.5V
+5V
+

1.5M
360k
R
G
R
F
10k
10n
R
C
+

10k R
4/4TLV2474
10n
C
10k
10k
R
R
10n
C
10n
C
V
OUT
Cosine
V
OUT
Sine
T he Wi en-bri dge osci llator has few parts, and i ts fre-
quency stabi li ty i s good. Tami ng the di storti on i n a Wi en-
bri dge osci llator i s harder than getti ng the ci rcui t to
osci llate. T he quadrature osci llator only requi res two op
amps, but i t has hi gh di storti on. Phase-shi ft osci llators,
especi ally the Bubba osci llator, have less di storti on coupled
wi th good frequency stabi li ty. T he i mproved performance
of the phase-shi ft osci llators comes at a cost of hi gher
component count.
References
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1. Feedback Ampli fi er Analysi s Tools . . . . . .sloa017
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