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Oscillator is an electronic circuit that generates a periodic
If the output signal varies sinusoidally, the circuit is
referred to as a sinusoidal oscillator.
If the output voltage rises quickly to one voltage level and
later drops quickly to another voltage level, the circuit is
referred to as a pulse or square-wave oscillator.
waveform on its output without an external signal
source. It is used to convert dc to ac.
The waveform can be sine wave, square wave, triangular
wave, and sawtooth wave.
Sine wave
Square wave
Sawtooth wave
Based on the waveform, oscillators are divided into
following two groups:
1. Sinusoidal (or harmonic) oscillators—which produce
an output having sine waveform.
2. Non-sinusoidal (or relaxation) oscillators—which
produce an output having square, rectangular or
sawtooth waveform or is of pulsa shape.
Oscillators are widely used in most communications
system as well as in digital systems, including
computers, to generate required frequencies and timing
signals.
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Fig. 2 illustrates the creation of a loop in which causes

the signal reinforces its self and sustains a continuous
Feedback oscillators operation is based on the principle output signal. This phenomenon is called oscillation.
of positive feedback, where a portion of the output The requirements for oscillation are:
signal is fed back to the input.
 the loop gain βA is greater than unity;
There are five types of feedback oscillators to produce  the phase-shift around the feedback network is 180o
sinusoidal outputs: (providing positive feedback).
1. Phase-shift oscillator;
Using RC circuits
2. Wien bridge oscillator; + + +
3. Twin T oscillator; Vi A Vo = AVi β Vf = β(AVi)
4. Colpitts oscillator; - - -
Using LC circuits
5. Hartley oscillator; + -
6. Crystal oscillator;

Fig. 2: Feedback circuit used as an oscillator.

Feedback Oscillator Principles Feedback Oscillator Principles

An oscillator is an amplifier with positive feedback. In general A and  are functions of frequency and thus
may be written as;

A f s  
Vo
s   As 
Vs 1  As β s 
Ve = Vi + Vf (1)
Vo = AVe (2)
Vf = (AVe)=Vo (3)
As  β s  is known as loop gain
From (1), (2) and (3), we get
Vo A
Af  
Vs 1  Aβ  where A is loop gain

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Feedback Oscillator Principles Feedback Oscillator Principles

Writing T s   As  β s  the loop gain becomes; At a specific frequency f0;

T  jω0   A jω0 β  jω0   1

As 
A f s  
1  T s  At this frequency, the closed loop gain;

A jω0  A jω0 
Replacing s with j; A f  jω0    
A jω 1  A jω0 β  jω0  (1  1)
A f  jω 
1  T  jω will be infinite, i.e. the circuit will have finite output
for zero input signal – thus we have oscillation
and T  jω   A jω β  jω 

Design Criteria for oscillators Build-up of steady- state oscillations

 The unity gain condition
must be met for oscillation to
1) |A| equal to unity or slightly larger at the be sustained
desired oscillation frequency.
 In practice, for oscillation to
- Barkhaussen criterion, |A|=1 begin, the voltage gain
around the positive feedback
2) Total phase shift, of the loop gain must be 0° loop must be greater than 1
or 360°. so that the amplitude of the
output can build up to the
desired value.
 If the overall gain is greater
Build-up of steady-state than 1, the oscillator
oscillations
eventually saturates.

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Build-up of steady- state oscillations
Then voltage gain
decreases to 1 and maintains
the desired amplitude of
waveforms.
 The resulting waveforms
are never exactly sinusoidal.
 However, the closer the
value A to 1, the more
nearly sinusoidal is the
waveform.
Buildup of steady-state
oscillations
1. RC Oscillators
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Factors that determine the frequency of
oscillation
Oscillators can be classified into many types depending on the
feedback components, amplifiers and circuit topologies used.
RC components generate a sinusoidal waveform at a few Hz to
kHz range.
LC components generate a sine wave at frequencies of 100 kHz
to 100 MHz.
Crystals generate a square or sine wave over a wide range,i.e.
about 10 kHz to 30 MHz.
 RC feedback oscillators are generally limited to
frequencies of 1MHz or less
 The two most common audio-oscillator circuits are the
Wien bridge oscillator and the phase-shift oscillator, both of
which employ RC feedback networks.
 The Wien bridge offers some very attractive features,
including a straightforward design, a relatively pure sine-
wave output, and a very stable frequency.
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Phase Shift Oscillator Fig. 3 shows a circuit containing three RC circuits in its
feedback network called the phase-shift oscillator. The
three RC circuits combine to produce a phase shift of 180o.

• The phase-shift network for the phase-shift

oscillator, is an RC network made up of equal-value
capacitors and resistors connected in cascade.

• Each of the three RC stages shown provides a 60o

phase shift. with the total phase shift equal to the
required 180o.

Fig. 3: Idealized phase-shift oscillator.

Phase Shift Oscillator – Practical

This circuit is drawn to show clearly the amplifier and feedback
network.

The last R has been incorporated into the summing resistors

at the input of the inverting op-amp.
1  Rf
fr  K  29
2 6 RC R3

Fig. 4: Phase-shift oscillator circuits: (a) FET version; (b) BJT version.

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The oscillation frequency in Hz can be calculated using

the following equation:
Cont’d
 The frequency of oscillation for the circuit can be
determined by substituting 2 for  in Eq. 1 and 1 0.065
solving for the frequency. The result is f   (4-1)
2 6 RC RC
1 0.065
f   (1.1)
2 6 RC RC 1

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EXERSIZE 1 Phase Shift Oscillator – Practical

• Determine the frequency of oscillation of a phase-shift oscillator with

a three-section feedback network consisting of 13- resistors and
100- F capacitors.

The last R has been incorporated into the summing resistors

at the input of the inverting op-amp.
1  Rf
fr  K  29
2 6 RC R3

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The Wien bridge oscillator is one of the more commonly

used low-frequency RC oscillators. It contains an op-
amp and two feedback networks.

Resistors R1 and R2 and capacitors C1 and C2 form the

frequency-adjustment elements.
Resistors R3 and R4 form part of the feedback path.
The op-amp output is connected as the bridge input at points
a and c. The bridge circuit output at points b and d is the input
to the op-amp.
Fig. 6: Wien bridge oscillator using an op-amp.

The analysis of the bridge circuit results in: If, in particular, the values are R1 = R2 = R and C1 = C2
R3 R1 C2 = C, the resulting oscillator frequency is
 
R4 R2 C1
1
and the resonant frequency of the Wien bridge fo 
2 RC
oscillator is (4-3)

1
fo 
2 R1C1 R2C2 and

R3
(4-2) 2
R4

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Analysis of the WBO Analysis of the WBO

The phase shift of this network to be zero, the imaginary part must
also be zero. This is true when

Analysis of the WBO

Amplitude stabilisation

•in both the oscillators above, the loop gain is

set by component values
•in practice the gain of the active components
is very variable
• if the gain of the circuit is too high it will saturate
• if the gain of the circuit is too low the oscillation will die
•real circuits need some means of stabilising
the magnitude of the oscillation to cope with
variability in the gain of the circuit

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Stabilizing WBO

LC Oscillators

LC Oscillator circuit using an ideal Op-amp

Oscillators With LC Feedback Circuits with non-zero output impedance Ro and its
equivalent ideal circuit
For frequencies above 1 MHz, LC feedback oscillators
are used.
They include Colpitts, Hartley and crystal-
controlled oscillators.
BJT amplifier can usually obtain higher oscillating
frequency than using standard operational amplifier.
In this case the high frequency hybrid - π model must
be used to properly model the transistor behavior.

47 48

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Oscillators With LC Feedback Circuits Colpitts Oscillators

The Colpitts oscillator utilizes a tank circuit (LC) in the feedback

oscillator circuit name depending on the choice of the reactance
loop. The resonant frequency can be determined by the formula
below.

1
fr 
2 LCT

1 1 1
 
CT C1 C2

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Colpitts Oscillators Hartley Oscillators

Conditions for oscillation and start up The Hartley oscillator is similar to the Colpitts. The tank circuit
has two inductors and one capacitor. The calculation of the
resonant frequency is the same.
Vf IX c1 C2
  
Vout IX c 2 C1 fr 
1
2 LT C
1
Av  LT  L1  L2

L1

C L2
Av  1
C2 1 L2
Av  
 L1
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Solution :

Oscillators 60 बु धवार, 11 अगस्त 2021 Oscillators 61

Most communications and digital applications require the

use of oscillators with extremely stable output. Crystal
oscillators are invented to overcome the output fluctuation
experienced by conventional oscillators.
Crystals used in electronic applications consist of a
quartz wafer held between two metal plates and
housed in a a package as shown in Fig. 9 (a) and (b).

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Oscillators
Fig. 9: A quartz crystal.

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The quartz crystal is made of silicon oxide (SiO2) and

Crystal Oscillators exhibits a property called the piezoelectric.

The crystal-controlled oscillator is the most stable and

accurate of all oscillators. A crystal has a natural frequency
of resonance. Quartz material can be cut or shaped to have When a changing an alternating voltage
a certain frequency. We can better understand the use of a is applied across the crystal, it vibrates at
crystal in the operation of an oscillator by viewing its the frequency of the applied voltage. In
electrical equivalent. the other word, the frequency of the
applied ac voltage is equal to the natural
resonant frequency of the crystal.
The thinner the crystal, higher its
frequency of vibration. This phenomenon
is called piezoelectric effect.

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The crystal can have two resonant The crystal is connected as a series element in the feedback
R
path from collector to the base so that it is excited in the
frequencies;
CM series-resonance mode.
One is the series resonance L
The circuit was suggested by Pierce.
frequency f1 which occurs when XL
C
= XC. At this frequency, crystal
offers a very low impedance to the
external circuit where Z = R.
The other is the parallel resonance
(or antiresonance) frequency f2
which occurs when reactance of BJT
the series leg equals the
FET
reactance of CM. At this frequency,
crystal offers a very high
impedance to the external circuit.
R

Fig. 10: Crystal impedance versus frequency. Fig. 11: Crystal oscillator using a crystal (XTAL) in a series-feedback path.

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Since, in series resonance, crystal impedance is the smallest

that causes the crystal provides the largest positive feedback. Oscillators With LC Feedback Circuits
Resistors R1, R2, and RE provide a voltage-divider stabilized
dc bias circuit. Capacitor CE provides ac bypass of the
emitter resistor, RE to avoid degeneration. Since crystal has natural
resonant frequencies of 20
The RFC coil provides dc collector load and also prevents
MHz or less, generation of
any ac signal from entering the dc supply.
higher frequencies is
The coupling capacitor CC has negligible reactance at circuit attained by operating the
operating frequency but blocks any dc flow between collector crystal in what is called the
and base. overtone mode.
The oscillation frequency equals the series-resonance
frequency of the crystal and is given by:
1
fo 
2 LCC (4-6)

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The fo is between 411 kHz and 412 kHz.

बु धवार, 11 अगस्त 2021 Oscillators 70

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