Oscillators

DEEPTHI PRAKASH
ASST. PROFESSOR &HEAD, DEPT. OF ECE
Topics to be discussed
Oscillators
-Positive feedback
-Conditions for oscillation
-Ladder network oscillator
-Wein bridge oscillator
-Multivibrators
-Single-stage astable oscillator
-Crystal controlled oscillators
Book Referred: Mike Tooley, ‘Electronic Circuits, Fundamentals & Applications’, 4
th Edition, Elsevier, 2015. DOI https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315737980. eBook
ISBN9781315737980
Oscillators
• Oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a periodic, oscillating electronic
signal, often a sine wave or a square wave or a triangle wave.
• Oscillators convert direct current (DC) from a power supply to an alternating
current (AC) signal.
• They are widely used in many electronic devices ranging from simplest clock
generators to digital instruments (like calculators) and complex computers and
peripherals etc.
• Common examples of signals generated by oscillators include signals broadcast
by radio and television transmitters, clock signals that regulate computers and
quartz clocks, and the sounds produced by electronic beepers and video
games.
 BARKHAUSEN CRITERION FOR OSCILLATION
• An oscillator is a circuit that basically acts as a generator, generating the output signal which oscillates with
constant amplitude and constant desired frequency.

• The feedback is a property that allows feedback the part of the output, to the same Circuit as its input.
Such feedback is said to be positive whenever the part of the output that is feedback to the amplifier as its
input, is in phase with the voltage gain A.

Barkhausen criterion states that

1. The total phase shift around a loop as the signal proceeds from input through amplifier, feedback network back
to the input again, completing a loop, is precisely 00 or 3600 or of course an integral multiply of 2π radians.

2. 2. The magnitude of the product of the open loop gain of the amplifier (A) and the feedback factor βis unity i.e.
|Aβ|=1 .If satisfying these conditions, the circuit works as an oscillator producing sustained oscillations of
constant frequency and amplitude.

3. The closed loop gain of positive feedback is given by,

Af= A/1-Aβ
 Positive feedback
• Output is fed back in such a way as to reinforce the input (rather than to subtract from it), is
known as positive feedback.
• Amplifier provides a phase shift of 180° and the feedback network provides a further 180°.
Thus the overall phase shift is 0°.
 Positive feedback
• When the loop gain Avβ approaches unity, the denominator (1- Avβ) will become close to
zero.
• This leads to increase in the overall gain. i.e the overall gain with positive feedback applied
will be greater than gain without feedback.
• To substantiate this we can have a example.
• Example 1: Assume that you have an amplifier with a gain of 9 and one-tenth of the output
is fed back to the input (i.e. β = 0.1). In this case the loop gain (β × Av) is 0.9.
• With negative feedback, the overall gain is:

• With positive feedback, the overall gain is:

 Positive feedback
• Example 2: Assume that you have an amplifier with a gain of 10 and one-tenth of the
output is fed back to the input (i.e. β = 0.1). In this case the loop gain (β × Av) is 1.

• With negative feedback, the overall gain is:

• With positive feedback, the overall gain is:

 Conditions for oscillations
a) the feedback must be positive (i.e. the signal fed back must arrive back in-
phase with the signal at the input);
b) the overall loop voltage gain must be greater than 1 (i.e. the amplifier’s gain
must be sufficient to overcome the losses associated with any frequency
selective feedback network).
• To create an oscillator we simply need an amplifier with sufficient gain to
overcome the losses of the network that provide positive feedback.
• Assuming that the amplifier provides 180° phase shift, the frequency of
oscillation will be that at which there is 180° phase shift in the feedback
network. A number of circuits can be used to provide 180° phase shift, one of
the simplest being a three-stage C–R ladder network that we shall see now.
 Ladder network oscillator
• TR1 operates as a conventional common-emitter amplifier stage with R1 and R2 providing
base bias potential and R3 and C1 providing emitter stabilization.
• The total phase shift provided by the C–R ladder network (connected between collector and
base) is 180° at the frequency of oscillation.
• The transistor provides the other 180° phase shift in order to realize an overall phase shift of
360° or 0° (note that these are the same).
• The frequency of oscillation of the circuit is given by:
 Ladder network oscillator
• Determine the frequency of oscillation of a three-stage ladder network oscillator in which C
= 10 nF and R = 10 kΩ.
 Wein bridge oscillator
• The input signal is applied to A and B while the output is taken from C and D.
• At one particular frequency, the phase shift produced by the network will be exactly zero (i.e.
the input and output signals will be in-phase).
• If we connect the network to an amplifier producing 0° phase shift which has sufficient gain to
overcome the losses of the Wien bridge, oscillation will result.
Wein bridge oscillator
 Wein bridge oscillator
• The minimum amplifier gain required to sustain oscillation is given by:
• When C1 = C2 and R1 = R2, the frequency at which the phase shift will be zero is given by:

• When R1 = R2 = R and C1 = C2 = C the frequency at which the phase shift will be zero will be
given by:
Wein bridge oscillator
Figure shows the circuit of a Wien bridge oscillator based on an operational amplifier. If C1 = C
2 = 100 nF, determine the output frequencies produced by this arrangement (a) when R1 = R2
= 1 kΩ and (b) when R1 = R2 = 6 kΩ.
Multivibrator
• Multivibrators are a family of oscillator circuits that produce output
waveforms consisting of one or more rectangular pulses.
• The term ‘multivibrator’ simply originates from the fact that this
type of waveform is rich in harmonics (i.e. ‘multiple vibrations’).
• Multivibrators use regenerative (i.e. positive) feedback; the active
devices present within the oscillator circuit being operated as
switches, being alternately cut-off and driven into saturation.
Multivibrator
Multivibrators
The principal types of multivibrator are:
a) astable multivibrators that provide a continuous train of pulses
(these are sometimes also referred to as free-running
multivibrators);
b) monostable multivibrators that produce a single output pulse
(they have one stable state and are thus sometimes also referred
to as ‘one-shot’);
c) bistable multivibrators that have two stable states and require a
trigger pulse or control signal to change from one state to another.
Single-stage astable oscillator
A simple form of astable oscillator that
produces a square wave output can be built
using just one operational amplifier
∙ The circuit employs positive feedback with
the output fed back to the non-inverting
input via the potential divider formed by R1
and R2.
∙ This circuit can make a very simple square
wave source with a frequency that can be
made adjustable by replacing R with a
variable or preset resistor.
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Single-stage astable oscillator
∙ Assume that C is initially uncharged and the voltage at the inverting input is slightly
less than the voltage at the non-inverting input.
∙ The output voltage will rise rapidly to +VCC and the voltage at the inverting input will
begin to rise exponentially as capacitor C charges through R.
∙ Eventually the voltage at the inverting input will have reached a value that causes the
voltage at the inverting input to exceed that present at the non-inverting input.
∙ At this point, the output voltage will rapidly fall to −VCC.

∙ Capacitor C will then start to charge in the other direction and the voltage at the
inverting input will begin to fall exponentially.
 Single-stage astable oscillator
• The upper threshold voltage (i.e. the maximum positive value for the voltage at the inverting
input) will be given by:

• The lower threshold voltage (i.e. the maximum negative value for the voltage at the inverting
input) will be given by:

• Finally, the time for one complete cycle of the output waveform produced by the astable
oscillator is given by:
Crystal controlled oscillator
∙ The quartz crystal vibrates whenever a potential difference is applied across its faces (this
phenomenon is known as the piezoelectric effect).
∙ The frequency of oscillation is determined by the crystal’s ‘cut’ and physical size. Most quartz
crystals can be expected to stabilize the frequency of oscillation of a circuit to within a few
parts in a million.
∙ Crystals can be manufactured for operation in fundamental mode over a frequency range
extending from 100 kHz to around 20 MHz and for overtone operation from 20 MHz to well
over 100 MHz.
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