RF OSCILLATOR AND ITS NEEEDS:

Any communication system that transmits and receives data on a high frequency carrier needs to be able to generate the carrier, usually using an oscillator. We need to be able to design an oscillator that can produce a high-quality signal at a pre-determined frequency with little noise and low harmonics. In real receivers, the oscillator is phase and frequency locked to the incoming carrier using a carrier recovery circuit

OSCILLATOR CHARACTERISTICS:
An oscillator is a device that generates a high frequency signal with only a DC signal input. It begins oscillating due to amplification of noise or a transient signal. Oscillators consist of two major blocks: An active, nonlinear element that provides gain A frequency selective circuit (e.g. LC tank, crystal oscillator, dielectric resonator)

We design oscillators with criteria such as: frequency stability over bias and temperature variations spectral purity (low power in harmonics, and low phase noise) power consumption area consumption

Phase noise and its effect in a communication system

Oscillators produce generally produce fairly sinusoidal signals, but noise inside the oscillator (1/f noise, thermal noise, shot noise, etc.) leads to variations in the generated signal. In the time domain this leads to "jitter" at the fundamental frequency, i.e. the period of the signal differs very slightly from one time to another. In the frequency domain, this is called phase noise, and leads to a rapidly decreasing power around the desired frequency. ELEC-853 (Silicon Integrated Circuits) has more information about oscillator phase noise. This phase noise has a significant effect on the feedthrough of interfering signals. If an undesired signal is closely spaced in frequency to the desired signal, both signals will be mixed by the oscillator signal. Since the oscillator has a finite power at small frequency offsets from the central frequency, it will result in a "spreading" of both the desired signal and the interfering signal. This will lead to the interfering signal overlapping the desired signal. If the interfering signal is larger than the desired, this can cause significant problems. For this reason, oscillators with low phase noise are required for communication systems.

Feedback Oscillators
The simplest way to create an oscillator is to use an explicit frequency-selective feedback network with a gain element (transistor). This is often an LC tank, as we will examine here, but dielectric resonators or transmission lines can also be used. These last two offer lower noise but are physically larger. Feedback oscillators are becoming more popular at very high frequencies ( > 50 GHz). A amplifier with appropriate feedback can be designed as an oscillator. For the system on the right the output voltage is

Vo() = AVi() + H()AVo or rearranging to solve for Vo

We will have a non-zero output (i.e. oscillaton) with a zero input when 1 AH() = 0

PREAMPLIFIER
A preamplifier (preamp) is an electronic amplifier that prepares a small electrical signal for further amplification or processing. A preamplifier is often placed close to the sensor to reduce the effects of noise and interference. It is used to boost the signal strength to drive the cable to the main instrument without significantly degrading the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The noise performance of a preamplifier is critical; according to Friis's formula, when the gain of the preamplifier is high, the SNR of the final signal is determined by the SNR of the input signal and the noise figure of the preamplifier.

In a home audio system, the term 'preamplifier' may sometimes be used to describe equipment which merely switches between different line level sources and applies a volume control, so that no actual amplification may be involved. In an audio system, the second amplifier is typically apower amplifier (power amp). The preamplifier provides voltage gain (e.g. from 10 millivolts to 1 volt) but no significant current gain. The power amplifier provides the higher current necessary to driveloudspeakers. Preamplifiers may be: incorporated into the housing or chassis of the amplifier they feed in a separate housing mounted within or near the signal source, such as a turntable, microphone or musical instrument.

Examples
The integrated preamplifier in a foil electret microphone. The first stages of an instrument amplifier. A stand-alone unit for use in live music and recording studio applications. As part of a stand-alone channel strip or channel strip built into an audio mixing desk. A masthead amplifier used with television receiver antenna or a satellite receiver dish. The circuit inside of a hard drive connected to the magnetic heads or the circuit inside of CD/DVD drive which connects to thephotodiodes. A switched capacitor circuit used to null the effects of mismatch offset in most CMOS comparatorbased flash analog-to-digital converters

Matching the Preamplifier to the Detector and the Application

The primary function of a preamplifier is to extract the signal from the detector without significantly degrading the intrinsic signal-tonoise ratio. Therefore, the preamplifier is located as close as possible to the detector, and the input circuits are designed to match the characteristics of the detector. Different pulse processing techniques are typically employed, depending on whether the arrival time or the amplitude (energy) of the detected event must be measured. Pulse shaping for either application is normally implemented in a subsequent module. This module can be located at some distance from the preamplifier, provided that the signal fidelity is not degraded due to the length of the interconnecting coaxial cable.

Preamplifier Types
Three basic types of preamplifiers are available: the current-sensitive preamplifier, the parasiticcapacitance preamplifier, and thecharge-sensitive preamplifier. The following paragraphs describe their functions and primary performance characteristics.

Current-Sensitive Preamplifiers
Several detector types, such as photomultiplier tubes and microchannel plates, generate a moderately large and fast-rising output signal through a high output impedance. Pulse processing for timing or counting with these detectors can be rather simple. Aproperlyterminated 50-coaxial cable is attached to the detector output, so that the current pulse from the detector develops the desired voltage pulse across the 50-load presented by the cable. For scintillators mounted on 14-stage photomultiplier tubes, this voltage signal is usually large enough to drive the input of a fast discriminator without further amplification. For single-photon counting, 10stage photomultiplier tubes, or microchannel plate PMTs, additional amplification is needed between the detector and the discriminator, and this is the function of the current-sensitive preamplifier.

Charge-Sensitive Preamplifiers
These preamplifiers are preferred for most energy spectroscopy applications. The signal from a semiconductor detector or ion chamber is a quantity of charge delivered as a current pulse lasting from 109 to 105 s, depending on the type of detector and its size. For most applications the parameters of interest are the quantity of charge and/or the time of occurrence of an event. A chargesensitive preamplifier (Fig. 3) can deliver either or both. Because it integrates the charge on the feedback capacitor, its gain is not sensitive to a change in detector capacitance, and in the ideal case, the rise time of the output pulse is equal to the detector current pulse width.

Parasitic-Capacitance Preamplifiers
Photomultiplier tubes, electron multipliers, microchannel plates, and microchannel plate PMTs produce moderately large output signals with very fast rise times. Parasitic-capacitance preamplifiers have a high input impedance (~5 M). Hence, the current pulse generated by the detector is integrated on the combined parasitic capacitance present at the detector output and the preamplifier input. This combined capacitance is typically 10 to 50 pF. The resulting signal is a voltage pulse having an amplitude proportional to the total charge in the detector pulse, and a rise time equal to the duration of the detector current pulse. A resistor connected in parallel with the input capacitance causes an exponential decay of the pulse with a time constant ~50 s. An amplifier having a high input impedance and unity gain is included as a buffer to drive the low impedance of a coaxial cable at the output. The 93-resistor in series with the output absorbs reflected pulses in long cables by terminating the cable in its characteristic impedance.