ECE 2202

Electroni 4. Oscillator circuits

c circuits 4.1 Introduction
II 4.2 Phase shift oscillator
4.3 Wien bridge oscillator circuits
4.4 Tuned Oscillator circuits
4.5 Crystal oscillator

4.1 Introduction;
Oscillators are used in many electronic circuits and systems providing the
central “clock” signal that controls the sequential operation of the entire
system. Oscillators convert a DC input (the supply voltage) into an AC
output (the waveform), which can have a wide range of different wave
shapes and frequencies that can be either complicated in nature or simple
sine waves depending upon the application. Oscillators are also used in
many pieces of test equipment producing sinusoidal sine waves, square,
saw tooth or triangular shaped waveforms or just a train of pulses of a
variable or constant width.
There are two types of Oscillators
 1. Sinusoidal Oscillators - these are known as Harmonic
Oscillators and are generally a “LC Tuned-feedback” or “RC
tuned-feedback” type Oscillator that generates a purely sinusoidal
waveform.
 2. Non-Sinusoidal Oscillators - these are known as Relaxation
Oscillators and generate complex non-sinusoidal waveforms that
changes very quickly from one condition of stability to another
such as “Square-wave”, “Triangular-wave” or “Saw-toothed-
wave” type waveforms.

Three requirements for an oscillation to sustain are:

 Positive feedback
 An initial input trigger to start oscillations
 Barkhausen criterion: loop gain(βA)=1

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Barkhausen Criteria

Consider the feedback circuit shown in figure 4.1 below.

Fig.4.1: Feedback used as an oscillator circuit

From feedback analysis and the figure above, the loop gain is given by βA (product of
the gain of the base amplifier and the feedback gain). If the circuits of the base
amplifier and feedback network provide βA of correct magnitude and phase, V f can
be made equal toV i. This results in to the feedback voltage to be the proper input
voltage to drive the amplifier and feedback circuits. Hence, it sustains the loop
operation i.e. the output waveform exists due to the feedback voltage if the following
condition is met.

βA=1 … … … 4.1 This is known as the Barckhausen criterion for

oscillation

4.2 Phase Shift Oscillator

In an RC Oscillator circuit the input is shifted 1800 through the amplifier
stagand 1800 again through a second inverting stage giving us
“180o + 180o = 360o” of phase shift which is effectively the same as 0o thereby
giving us the required positive feedback. In other words, the phase shift of the
feedback loop should be “0″.

In a Resistance-Capacitance Oscillator or simply an RC Oscillator, we make use

of the fact that a phase shift occurs between the input to a RC network and the
output from the same network by using RC elements in the feedback branch,
for example.
RC Phase-Shift Network

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RC Phase Angle

In our simple example above, the values of R and C have been chosen so that
at the required frequency the output voltage leads the input voltage by an
angle of about 60o. Then the phase angle between each successive RC section
increases by another 60o giving a phase difference between the input and
output of 180o (3 x 60o) as shown by the following vector diagram.

Vector Diagram

Then by connecting together three such RC networks in series we can produce

a total phase shift in the circuit of 180o at the chosen frequency and this form
the bases of a “phase shift oscillator”.

We know that in an amplifier circuit either using a Bipolar Transistor or an

Operational Amplifier, it will produce a phase-shift of 180o between its input
and output. If a three-stage RC phase-shift network is connected between this
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input and output of the amplifier, the total phase shift necessary for
regenerative feedback will become 3 x 60o + 180o = 360o as shown.

The three RC stages are cascaded together to get the required slope for a
stable oscillation frequency. The feedback loop phase shift is -180o when the
phase shift of each stage is -60o. This occurs when ω = 2πƒ = 1.732/RC as (tan
60o = 1.732). Then to achieve the required phase shift in an RC oscillator
circuit is to use multiple RC phase-shifting networks such as the circuit below.

Basic RC Oscillator Circuit

The basic RC Oscillator which is also known as a Phase-shift Oscillator,

produces a sine wave output signal using regenerative feedback obtained
from the resistor-capacitor combination. This regenerative feedback from the
RC network is due to the ability of the capacitor to store an electric charge,
(similar to the LC tank circuit). This resistor-capacitor feedback network can
be connected as shown above to produce a leading phase shift (phase advance
network) or interchanged to produce a lagging phase shift (phase retard
network) the outcome is still the same as the sine wave oscillations only occur
at the frequency at which the overall phase-shift is 360o.
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What is the starting voltage? Every resistor generates noise voltage. These
voltages are produced by the random motion of electrons in the resistor. The
motion is so random that it contains sinusoidal frequencies to over 1000 GHz.
In other words, each resistor acts as a small voltage source producing
essentially all frequencies. The noise which has a frequency equal to the
resonance frequency of the circuit is amplified and appears at the output
terminals.

By varying one or more of the resistors or capacitors in the phase-shift

network, the frequency can be varied and generally this is done by keeping
the resistors the same and using a 3-ganged variable capacitor. If all the
resistors, R and the capacitors, C in the phase shift network are equal in value,
then the frequency of oscillations produced by the RC oscillator is given as:

 Where:
 ƒr is the Output Frequency in Hertz
 R is the Resistance in Ohms
 C is the Capacitance in Farads
 N is the number of RC stages. (N = 3)

The Op-amp RC Oscillator

When used as RC oscillators, Operational Amplifier RC Oscillators are more

common than their bipolar transistors counterparts. The oscillator circuit
consists of a negative-gain operational amplifier and a three section RC
network that produces the 180o phase shift. The phase shift network is
connected from the op-amps output back to its inverting input as shown
below.

Op-amp RC Oscillator Circuit

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The “inverting amplifier” configuration produces the required 180o phase

shift while the RC network produces the other 180o phase shift at the required
frequency (180o + 180o).

RC Oscillator Example:

Determine the frequency of oscillations of a RC Oscillator circuit having 3-

stages each with a resistor and capacitor of equal values. R = 10kΩ and C =
500pF

The frequency of oscillations for a RC Oscillator is given as:

The circuit is a 3-stage oscillator which consists of three 10kΩ resistors and
three 500pF capacitors therefore the frequency of oscillation is given as:

4.3 Wien-Bridge Oscillator

This oscillator circuit is constructed using an op-amp, which is connected
in a noninverting configuration, and two RC bridge circuits used to
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determine the frequency of oscillation. The circuit is as shown in figure

4.7 below.

Fig.4.7: Wien-bridge oscillator

The loop gain is the product of the amplifier gain and the feedback transfer function.

The amplifier gain is given by:

A= 1+
( ) R2
R1
… … … … … … … … … … … 4.10

This is the same expression as given by the non inverting op-amp amplifier.

And the feedback transfer function is given by:

Zp
β= … … … … … … … … … … … 4.11
Z p+ ZS

Hence,

( )(
T = 1+
R2
R1
Zp
)
Z p +Z S
, but Z p=
R
1+ jωRC
∧Z S =R+
1
jωC

Substituting Z p , Z S and the condition for oscillation which is given by: T ( jω)=1, we
get,

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( )(
T ( jω )= 1+
R2
R1
3+ jωRC +
1
1
)
=1 … … … … … 4.12
jωRC

But the loop gain must be real, this results for the imaginary part of equation 4.19 to
be zero.
1
i.e. jωRC +
jωRC
=0

From which we could get the frequency of oscillation as:

1
ω= … … … … … … … … … … … … … 4.13
RC
From the real part we have

( )( )
1+
R2
R1
1
3
=1

This results into:

R2
=2 … … … … … … … … … … … … … 4.14
R1

Hence, to have a sufficient loop gain for the circuit to oscillate at a frequency f given
above, we must have R2 / R1 >2.

4.2 Tuned oscillator circuits:

A tuned amplifier is an electronic amplifier which includes bandpass
filtering components within the amplifier circuitry. They are widely
used in all kinds of wireless applications. The most commonly used
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types of LC oscillators are the Colpitts and Hartley Oscillators, which

can be constructed using BJT, FET or ICs.
4.2.1 Colpitts Oscillator

One of the most common oscillator circuits is the Colpitts Oscillator. The
identification feature of a Colpitts Oscillator is split capacitor. The two capacitors (C 1
and C2 in figure 4.8) in the frequency-determining device provide the oscillator with
capacitive feedback. Thus, Colpitts Oscillators use split capacitors for capacitive
feedback.

Consider the following CE circuit

Fig. 4.8 CE circuit to illustrate Colpitts

The small signal ac equivalent circuit is shown below, taking the assumption that at
the frequency of oscillation r π ≫ 1/ω C 2 and the resistance R includes r o of the
transistor.

Fig. 4.9: small signal equivalent circuit, BJT Colpitts oscillator

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From the above figure it can be seen that the output voltage appears across C 1 and
the feedback voltage appears across C2.

A KCL equation at node n (fig. 4.9) yields:

Vo Vo Vo
+ + + g m V π =0 … … … … … … … … 4.15
XC R XL + XC
1 2

( )
XC
And voltage divider gives us: V π=V o
XC + X L
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … 4.16
2

Substituting this into equation 4.15,

Vo
( 1 1
+ +
1
X C R X L+ X C
1
+ gm
XC
X C + XL
=0
2
( 2
2

))
If we assume that oscillation has started, then V o ≠ 0 and we get,

1 1
+ +
1
XC R XL + XC
1
+ gm
XC
XC + X L
=0
2
( 2
2

)
Substituting the expression for X C , X C ∧ X L in terms of the frequencyω and after a
1 2

long simplification, we get the following expression:

( 1R + g − 1R ω L C )+ j (ω C +ω C −ω C C L)=0 … … … … … … 4.17
m
2
2 1 2
3
1 2

For oscillations to start, both the real and imaginary parts must be zero. Equating the
imaginary part to zero gives us the frequency of oscillation as follows:

1
ω= … … … … … … … … … … … 4.18

√(
L
C1 C2
C 1+ C 2 )
And equating the real part to zero and substituting the above equation for ω we get,

1 1 2
+ g m− ω L C2=0
R R

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C2
gm R= … … … … … … … … … … … 4.19
C1

This can be interpreted as the gain of the base amplifier is equal to the ratio of the
capacitive reactance. And for oscillations to start the loop gain must be made greater
than unity. i.e.

C2
gm R>
C1

The transistors non linear characteristics reduce the effective value of gm , and thus
reduce the loop gain to unity, which helps the circuit to sustain the oscillation.

1 C1
Using Barkhausen criteria: β=
gm R
=
C2

This is the feedback gain of the oscillating circuit.

4.2.2 Hartley Oscillator

Hartley Oscillator is another typical oscillator. The identifying feature of this

oscillator is a tapped coil for inductive feedback.

The ac equivalent circuit for the Hartley oscillator is shown in figure 4.10. For this
circuit the output voltage appears across L1 and the feedback voltage appears across
L2. And a similar analysis can be used to calculate the operating frequency oscillating
circuit, which is given in equation 4.15 below.
1
ω= … … … … … … … … … … … … .… 4.20
√ ( L1 + L2 ) C
And the analysis for the feedback gain and the minimum voltage gain is as given
below:
V f X L2 L2
β= = = … … … … … … … … … … … … 4.21 a
V O X L1 L1

V O X L 1 L1
A v= = = … … … … … … … … … … … … 4.21 b
V f X L 2 L2

Note: The proof is left as an exercise for the students.

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Fig 4.10 Ac equivalent CE circuit to illustrate Hartley

4.5 Quartz Crystal Oscillator

One of the most important features of any oscillator is its frequency
stability, or in other words its ability to provide a constant frequency
output under varying load conditions. Some of the factors that affect the
frequency stability of an oscillator generally include: variations in
temperature, variations in the load as well as changes to its DC power
supply voltage to name a few. Frequency stability of the output signal
can be improved by the proper selection of the components used for the
resonant feedback circuit including the amplifier but there is a limit to
the stability that can be obtained from normal LC and RC tank circuits.

Quartz Crystal

To obtain a very high level of oscillator stability a Quartz Crystal is

generally used as the frequency determining device to produce other
types of oscillator circuit known generally as a Quartz Crystal
Oscillator, (XO).

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When a voltage source is applied to a small thin piece of quartz crystal,

it begins to change shape producing a characteristic known as the Piezo-
electric effect. This Piezo-electric Effect is the property of a crystal by
which an electrical charge produces a mechanical force by changing the
shape of the crystal and vice versa, a mechanical force applied to the
crystal produces an electrical charge.

Then, piezo-electric devices can be classed as Transducers they convert

energy of one kind into energy of another (electrical to mechanical or
mechanical to electrical). This piezo-electric effect produces mechanical
vibrations or oscillations which are used to replace the LC tank circuit in
the previous oscillators.

There are many different types of crystal substances which can be used
as oscillators with the most important of these for electronic circuits
being the quartz minerals because of their greater mechanical strength.

The quartz crystal used in a Quartz Crystal Oscillator is a very small,

thin piece or wafer of cut quartz with the two parallel surfaces metallised
to make the required electrical connections. The physical size and
thickness of a piece of quartz crystal is tightly controlled since it affects
the final or fundamental frequency of oscillations. The fundamental
frequency is called the crystals “characteristic frequency”.

Then once cut and shaped, the crystal cannot be used at any other
frequency. In other words, its size and shape determines its fundamental
oscillation frequency.

The crystals characteristic or resonant frequency is inversely

proportional to its physical thickness between the two metallised
surfaces. A mechanically vibrating crystal can be represented by an
equivalent electrical circuit consisting of low resistance R, a large
inductance L and small capacitance C as shown below.

Quartz Crystal Equivalent Model

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The equivalent electrical circuit for the quartz crystal shows a series
RLC circuit, which represents the mechanical vibrations of the crystal,
in parallel with a capacitance, Cp which represents the electrical
connections to the crystal. Quartz crystal oscillators tend to operate
towards their “series resonance”.

The equivalent impedance of the crystal has a series resonance where Cs

resonates with inductance, Ls at the crystals operating frequency. This
frequency is called the crystals series frequency, ƒs. As well as this
series frequency, there is a second frequency point established as a result
of the parallel resonance created when Ls and Cs resonates with the
parallel capacitor Cp as shown.

Crystal Impedance against Frequency

The slope of the crystals impedance above shows that the frequency
increases across its terminals. At a particular frequency, the interaction
of between the series capacitor Cs and the inductor Ls creates a series
resonance circuit reducing the crystals impedance to a minimum and
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equal to Rs. This frequency point is called the crystals series resonant
frequency ƒs and below ƒs the crystal is capacitive.

As the frequency increases above this series resonance point, the crystal
behaves like an inductor until the frequency reaches its parallel resonant
frequency ƒp. At this frequency point the interaction between the series
inductor, Ls and parallel capacitor, Cp creates a parallel tuned LC tank
circuit and as such the impedance across the crystal reaches its
maximum value.

Then we can see that a quartz crystal is a combination of a series and

parallel tuned resonance circuits, oscillating at two different
frequencies with the very small difference between the two depending
upon the cut of the crystal. Also, since the crystal can operate at either
its series or parallel resonance frequencies, a crystal oscillator circuit
needs to be tuned to one or the other frequency as you cannot use both
together. So depending upon the circuit characteristics, a quartz crystal
can act as a capacitor, an inductor, a series resonance circuit or as a
parallel resonance circuit and to demonstrate this more clearly, we can
also plot the crystals reactance against frequency as shown.

Crystal Reactance against Frequency

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The slope of the reactance against frequency above shows that the series
reactance at frequency ƒs is inversely proportional to Cs because below
ƒs and above ƒp the crystal appears capacitive. Between frequencies
ƒs and ƒp, the crystal appears inductive as the two parallel capacitances
cancel out. Then the formula for the crystals series resonance frequency,
ƒs is given as:

The parallel resonance frequency, ƒp occurs when the reactance of the

series LC leg equals the reactance of the parallel capacitor, Cp and is
given as:
Parallel Resonant Frequency

No1- LC Oscillator Example

An inductance of 200mH and a capacitor of 10pF are connected together
in parallel to create an LC oscillator tank circuit. Calculate the frequency
of oscillation.

Then we can see from the above example that by decreasing the value of
either the capacitance, C or the inductance, L will have the effect of
increasing the frequency of oscillation of the LC tank circuit.

No 2 - Colpitts Oscillator Example

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A Colpitts Oscillator circuit having two capacitors of 10pF and 100pF

respectively are connected in parallel with an inductor of 10mH.
Determine the frequency of oscillations of the circuit.
The oscillation frequency for a Colpitts Oscillator is given as:

The circuit consists of two capacitors in series, so the total capacitance is

given as:

The inductance of the inductor is given as 10mH, then the frequency of

oscillation is:

Then the frequency of oscillations for the Colpitts Oscillator is

527.8kHz

No3 - Hartley Oscillator Example

A Hartley Oscillator circuit having two individual inductors of 0.5mH
each, are designed to resonate in parallel with a variable capacitor that
can be adjusted between 100pF and 500pF. Determine the upper and
lower frequencies of oscillation and also the Hartley oscillators
bandwidth.

From above we can calculate the frequency of oscillations for a Hartley

Oscillator as:

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The circuit consists of two inductive coils in series, so the total

inductance is given as:

Hartley Oscillator Upper Frequency

Hartley Oscillator Lower Frequency

Hartley Oscillator Bandwidth

No 4 - Wien Bridge Oscillator Example

Determine the maximum and minimum frequency of oscillations of a
Wien Bridge Oscillator circuit having a resistor of 10kΩ and a variable
capacitor of 1nF to 1000nF.

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The frequency of oscillations for a Wien Bridge Oscillator is given as:

Wien Bridge Oscillator Lowest Frequency

Wien Bridge Oscillator Highest Frequency

No 5 Quartz Crystal Oscillator Example

A series resonant crystal has the following values after being cut, R =
1kΩ, C = 0.05pF and L = 3H. Calculate the fundamental frequency of
oscillations of the crystal.

The frequency of oscillations for the Quartz Crystal Oscillator is given

as:

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Then the fundamental frequency of oscillations for the crystal is given

as: 411 kHz

No 6 - Quartz Crystal Oscillator Example

A quartz crystal has the following values: Rs = 6.4 Ω, Cs = 0.09972 pF
and Ls = 2.546 mH. If the capacitance across its terminal, Cp is
measured at 28.68 pF, calculate the fundamental oscillating frequency of
the crystal and its secondary resonance frequency.
The crystals series resonant frequency, ƒS

The crystals parallel resonant frequency, ƒP

We can see that the difference between ƒs, the crystals fundamental
frequency and ƒp is small at about 18 kHz (10.005 MHz – 9.987 MHz).
However during this frequency range, the Q-factor (Quality Factor) of
the crystal is extremely high because the inductance of the crystal is
much higher than its capacitive or resistive values. The Q-factor of our
crystal at the series resonance frequency is given as:
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Crystal Oscillators Q-factor

Then the Q-factor of our crystal example, about 25,000, is because of

this high XL/R ratio. The Q-factor of most crystals is in the area of
20,000 to 200,000 as compared to a good LC tuned tank circuit we
looked at earlier which will be much less than 1,000. This high Q-factor
value also contributes to a greater frequency stability of the crystal at its
operating frequency making it ideal to construct crystal oscillator
circuits.

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