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Crystal Oscillator Circuit and Its Working

A crystal oscillator is an electronic circuit that uses a piezoelectric crystal, typically quartz, to generate an electrical signal with a precise frequency. The crystal oscillates at its natural resonant frequency when a voltage is applied, which is then used to provide a stable clock signal. Common applications include providing clock signals for microprocessors, in telecommunications devices, and for precision timing in industrial and scientific instruments.

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2K views5 pages

Crystal Oscillator Circuit and Its Working

A crystal oscillator is an electronic circuit that uses a piezoelectric crystal, typically quartz, to generate an electrical signal with a precise frequency. The crystal oscillates at its natural resonant frequency when a voltage is applied, which is then used to provide a stable clock signal. Common applications include providing clock signals for microprocessors, in telecommunications devices, and for precision timing in industrial and scientific instruments.

Uploaded by

Jilly Arasu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Crystal Oscillator Circuit and its Working

An electronic circuit or electronic device that is used to generate periodically


oscillating electronic signal is called as an electronic oscillator. The electronic signal
produced by an oscillator is typically a sine wave or square wave. An electronic
oscillator converts the direct current signal into an alternating current signal. The radio
and television transmitters are broad casted using the signals generated by oscillators.
The electronic beep sounds and video game sounds are generated by the oscillator
signals. These oscillators generate signals using the principle of oscillation.

There are different types of oscillator electronic circuits such as Linear


oscillators – Hartley oscillator, Phase-shift oscillator, Armstrong oscillator, Clapp
oscillator, Colpitts oscillator, and so on, Relaxation oscillators – Royer oscillator,
Ring oscillator, Multivibrator, and so on, and Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO). In
this article, let us discuss in detail about Crystal oscillator like what is crystal
oscillator, crystal oscillator circuit, working, and use of crystal oscillator in electronic
circuits.
Crystal Oscillator

Quartz Crystal Oscillator

An electronic circuit that is used to generate an electrical signal of precise


frequency by utilizing the vibrating crystal’s mechanical resonance made
of piezoelectric material. There are different types of piezoelectric resonators, but
typically, quartz crystal is used in these types of oscillators. Hence, these
oscillator electronic circuits are named as crystal oscillators.

Crystal Oscillator Circuit Diagram

The quartz crystal oscillator circuit diagram can be represented as follows:

Electronic Symbol for Piezoelectric Crystal Resonator


The above diagram represents the electronic symbol for a piezoelectric crystal
resonator which consists of two metalized electrodes and quartz crystal.

Equivalent Circuit Diagram of Quartz Crystal

The above figure shows the equivalent circuit diagram of quartz crystal in an
electronic oscillator that consists of resistor, inductor, and capacitors which are
connected as shown in the figure.

Crystal Oscillator Working

The atoms, molecules, ions are packed in an order in three spatial dimensions
with repeating pattern to form a solid that can be called as a crystal. The crystal can be
made by almost any object that is made of elastic material by using
appropriate electrical transducers. As every object consists of natural resonant
frequency of vibration, steel consists of high speed of sound and is also very elastic.

Thus, steel is frequently used instead of quartz in mechanical filters. This resonant
frequency depends on different parameters such as size, elasticity, speed of sound, and
shape of the crystal. In general, the shape of high frequency crystals is simple
rectangular plate and the shape of low frequency crystals is tuning fork shape as
shown in the figure below.
High Frequency-Rectangular Plate Crystals and Low Frequency-Tuning Fork
Crystals

Crystal oscillator circuit works on the principle of the inverse piezoelectric


effect, i.e., a mechanical deformation is produced by applying an electric field across
certain materials. Thus, it utilizes the vibrating crystal’s mechanical resonance which
is made of a piezoelectric material for generating an electrical signal of a specific
frequency.

These quartz crystal oscillators are highly stable, consists of good quality
factor, they are small in size, and are very economical. Hence, quartz crystal oscillator
circuits are superior compared to other resonators such as LC circuits, turning forks,
and so on. Generally, 8MHz crystal oscillator is used in microprocessors and
microcontrollers.

Use of Crystal Oscillator

In general, we know that, crystal oscillators are used in the microprocessors


and microcontrollers for providing the clock signals. Let us consider 8051
microcontroller for which an external crystal oscillator circuit of 12MHz is essential,
even though (based on model) 8051 microcontroller is capable to run at 40 MHz
(max). 8051 requires 12 clock cycles for one machine cycle, such that to give effective
cycle rate at 1MHz (considering 12MHz clock) to 3.33MHz (considering maximum
40MHz clock). This crystal oscillator is used to generate clock pulses required for the
synchronization of all the internal operations.

There are numerous applications for crystal oscillator in various fields and a
few crystal oscillator applications are shown below:
Application of Crystal Oscillator in Military and Aerospace

The use of crystal oscillator in military and aerospace, is to establish an


efficient communication system, for the navigation purpose, electronic warfare, in the
guidance systems, and so on.

Use of Crystal Oscillator in Research and Measurement

The crystal oscillator is used in research and measurement for celestrial navigation,
space tracking purpose, in the measuring instruments and medical devices, and so on.

Industrial Applications of Crystal Oscillator

There are a huge number of industrial applications of crystal oscillator such as in


computers, digital systems, instrumentation, phase locked loop systems, marine,
modems, sensors, telecommunications, disk drives, and so on.

Use of Crystal Oscillator in Automotive

Crystal oscillator is used for engine controlling, stereo, clock and to trip computer, and
in GPS system.

Consumer Applications of Crystal Oscillator

Crystal oscillators are used in many consumer goods such as cable television systems,
personal computers, video cameras, toys and video games, radio systems, cellular
phones, and so on.

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