This chapter describes how to select an oscillator circuit for a particular

application. It also summarizes the most important oscillator design

characteristics to aid those who would like to design their own oscillator
circuits.

13.1. SELECTING A CIRCUIT

What circuit should be selected depends on the application. If the best
short-term stability without regard to other circuit characteristics is
needed, then the modified Meacham circuit is the best choice. But it will
be necessary to put up with the Meacham’s drawbacks of circuit com-
plexity, the difficulty of designing a stable circuit, and a high parts count.
(An alternative circuit that is easier to design and gives performance
equal to the modified Meacham is the RLC half-bridge, which is de-
scribed in the Appendix.) If very good short-term stability is required,
but other circuit characteristics such as simplicity and ease of design are
also important, then the Pierce is a good choice. The Pierce can be used
at any frequency from the highest to the lowest, fundamental or har-
monic, as shown by the assortment of Pierce schematics in this book.
Or, if harmonic operation above 20 MHz, with above average perfor-
mance and reasonably few parts is needed, the Butler emitter follower
circuit is the one to pick. If the bare minimum number of parts is a requi-
site and performance requirements can be relaxed a little, then the
pitts, either fundamental or harmonic, is the one to pick,
A discrete transistor circuit will usually give better performance than
an IC circuit. This is because it is easier to control the crystal’s source
and load resistances, the gain, and signal amplitude in a discrete tran-
sistor circuit. The discrete transistor amplifier usually has less time delay
in it, as well, since it normally has only one or two transistors.
On the other hand, oscillators using are frequently cheaper when
assembly labor costs are included. They also interface more easily with
digital circuitry. And although their performance is generally less than
that of a discrete transistor circuit, it is still better than what is needed for
many types of digital circuitry.
In CMOS, the Pierce inverter circuit works well over the 1
MHz frequency range and requires only two inverters. From 4
MHz, the 7209 special oscillator IC, which also uses the Pierce inverter
circuit, can be used..
In TTL below 3 MHz, the series-resonant two-inverters circuit
gives good performance over the 100 MHz frequency range as
long as the circuit’s spurious oscillation problem with the crystal out of
the circuit can be tolerated. In TTL above 3 MHz, either the
resonant circuit using an ECL line receiver or the Pierce-ECL
circuit would be a good choice. A TTL buffer circuit similar to those
shown in the oscillator schematics is required for these above-3 MHz
circuits.
In ECL below 20 MHz, the series-resonant line receiver circuit
or the Pierce-ECL circuit would be a good selection, covering a fre-
quency range of 100 MHz. In ECL above 20 MHz, the Butler
emitter follower circuit (harmonic) using the 10216 line receiver would
be a good circuit to use.

13.2. CIRCUIT DESIGN

The design of a crystal oscillator circuit is dominated by the crystal’s

internal series resistance far more than by any other factor. For a
typical quartz crystal in a gas-filled container, the crystal’s internal series
resistance varies from a high of 200K at 1 to a low of 10 at 20
MHz. For the best short-term frequency stability, the equivalent series
load resistance seen by the crystal should be equal to or somewhat less
than the crystal’s internal series resistance R,. To meet this crystal need,
the circuit’s impedance level has to vary over a wide range-high im-
pedance at low frequencies, and low impedance at high frequencies.
It is this characteristic that leads to such a wide variety of circuits over
the frequency range.
In calculating the crystal’s load, the crystal’s shunt terminal
 of about 5 should be included as part of that load rather than
as part of the frequency determining and elements in the crystal.
Since the terminal capacitance is in parallel with the actual load re-
sistance (or capacitance), a parallel-to-series network conversion is per-
formed to find the equivalent series load resistance that is to be mini-
mized. Good in-circuit Q can be obtained with either a high or low value
of parallel load resistance across the crystal terminals. For the best Q,
this parallel load resistance should be two to three orders of magnitude
greater than or less than the impedance of the total shunt capacitance
across the crystal terminals. Figure 6.4 shows graphically these
minimum and maximum parallel load resistances that will give good
circuit Q as a function of frequency. The graph in Fig. 6.4 assumes that
the crystal’s total shunt capacitance is just the shunt capacitance of the
crystal itself (about 5 which is the usual case.
The oscillator circuit should contain some means of ensuring that the
amplifier is biased “on” at startup and is not in a biased “off’ state,
which would prevent oscillation from starting when power is applied.
This is an essential element in any good oscillator circuit.
If the crystal is removed from the circuit or becomes defective, the
circuit should not oscillate. Some circuits, like the TTL two-inverters
circuit, continue to oscillate (spuriously) when the crystal is removed;
this is poor design.
In general, the time delay in the oscillator’s amplifier should be
minimized, since it causes frequency shifts when the amplifier’s temper-
ature changes. The greater the amplifier’s time delay as a percentage of
the period of oscillation, the greater the frequency shifts with tempera-
ture changes. The square wave driving the crystal should be a good
square wave, with a on-off ratio and a rise time that is not too slow
or too fast. The amplifier’s frequency response and rise time should not
be way beyond the oscillation frequency either. If they are, then multi-
ple on-off due to noise will occur in the amplifier at each zero
crossing of the sine wave out of the crystal. A desirable delay and rise
and fall time seems to be about 2 percent of the total period of oscillation.
It is worth repeating that both sine and square wave outputs are avail-
able from most oscillator circuits. The square wave is on the driving side
of the crystal, and the sine wave is on the output side.