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President Ramon Magsaysay
State University
Iba, Zambales, Philippines
Tel/Fax No.: (047) 811-1683

College of Engineering/Computer Engineering

AC221: Fundamentals of Electronic Circuits
Semester of A.Y. 2020-2021

Introduction

The oscillators are electronic circuits makes a respective electronic signal generally the
sine wave and the square wave. It is very important in other types of the electronic
equipment such as quartz which used as a quartz oscillator. The amplitude modulation
radio transmitters use the oscillation to generate the carrier waveform. The AM radio
receiver uses the special oscillator it is called as a resonator to tune a station.
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Intended Learning Outcomes

A. Able to understand the function of oscillator.

B. Able to know the different types of oscillators.
Discussion

What is an Oscillator?

• An oscillator is a circuit which produces a continuous, repeated, alternating waveform

without any input.
• Oscillators basically convert unidirectional current flow from a DC source into an
alternating waveform which is of the desired frequency, as decided by its circuit
components.

Type of Oscillator

Types of oscillators, that can be classified into two main categories

• Harmonic Oscillators (also known as Linear Oscillators)

• Relaxation Oscillators.

Harmonic Oscillator – the energy flow is always from the active components to the passive
components and the frequency of oscillations is decided by the feedback path.

Relaxation Oscillator – the energy is exchanged between the active and the passive
components and the frequency of oscillations is determined by the charging and
discharging time-constants involved in the process.

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Harmonic oscillators produce low-distorted sine-wave outputs while the relaxation
oscillators generate non-sinusoidal (saw-tooth, triangular or square) wave-forms.

Principle of Oscillators

The oscillator converts the direct current from the power supply to an alternating current
and they are used in many of the electronic devices. The signals used in the oscillators are
a sine wave and the square wave. The some of the examples are the signals are
broadcasted by the radio and television transmitter, clocks which are used in the
computers and in the video games.

Types of Oscillators: Common oscillator technology variations

1. Crystal Oscillators
Crystal oscillators (resonators) are made from high-quality quartz crystal wafers. These
wafers serve as the reference oscillator in microcontrollers. A crystal oscillator can vary in
size, but thinner crystal cuts offer higher frequency operation. For example, 0.15 mm thick
quartz crystal may operate at 15 MHz. Crystal oscillator frequency and stability can
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depend on the:
- Type of crystal
- Geometric orientation of the crystal's cuts
- Crystal dimensions
The crystal sits between two electrodes, which creates a naturally oscillating signal. This
setup utilizes the piezoelectric effect to create a temperature-dependent acoustic
vibration. The electrode "harvests" the vibrations to generate the oscillation signal that the
rest of the oscillator circuit uses. However, crystal oscillators create relatively slow oscillating
signals, operating between 0-100 MHz. Therefore, you can't directly use them as an input
signal for an MCU's high-frequency digital operations.

2. SAW oscillators
Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices, also called SAW Oscillators (SOs), utilize interdigital
transducers (IDTs). Placed on a piezoelectric substrate, these oscillators create SAW. These
waves are capable of stable frequency ranges from 10MHz to 2Ghz and are dependent
on the dimensions of the IDT, substrate material characteristics, and subsequently changes
in the substrate due to external influences such as temperature.

3. MEMS Oscillators
MEMS oscillators are semi-stable but are based on microelectronic mechanical systems
(MEMS). MEMS create oscillating signals when they are electrostatically triggered. These
systems can vary in size and frequency, but they may also be subject to mass loads and
other similar forces―which can influence stability.

4. Voltage-controlled oscillators
Voltage-controlled oscillators can operate at higher frequencies but are much less stable
than other oscillator signals. Since electronics timing continues to demand higher speed
and require a stable reference signal, you can find these oscillators working in tandem with
crystal oscillators, MEMS oscillators, and amplifiers to form a PLL. PLLs are capable of
frequency speeds in the gigahertz range.
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You can frequently find clock oscillators in the internal circuits of a microcontroller. These
oscillators control how quickly various functions of the MCU work. Regardless of the
oscillator technology that they utilize, oscillators are fundamental in modern electronics.

Resources and Additional Resources

• Wikipedia
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