EE 201.

3 ELECTRONICS II
Lecture 7- Oscillator Circuits
Mr. Jayaminda Anuradha
(M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering B.Sc. Engineering (Hons), University of Moratuwa.)
Faculty of Engineering
National School of Business Management
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From Previous Lecture….
• Frequency bands
-Low frequency band, midband and high frequency band
• High frequency response
-Equivalent circuits, frequency plot and equations
• Low frequency response
-Effect of 𝐶𝐶1 , 𝐶𝐶2 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝐸 capacitors
-Equivalent circuits, frequency plot and equations

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Oscillator Circuits
• An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a periodic, oscillating
electronic signal, usually a sine wave or a square wave
• Oscillators convert DC from a power supply to an AC signal
• Common applications of Oscillators – Clock signals in computers, Radio and
television transmitters, video games etc.
• Oscillators are often characterized by the frequency of their output signal
• A low-frequency oscillator (LFO) is an electronic oscillator that generates a
frequency below approximately 20 Hz
• An audio oscillator produces frequencies in the audio range, about 16 Hz to
20 kHz

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Oscillator Circuits
• An RF oscillator produces signals in the radio frequency (RF) range of about
100 kHz to 100 GHz

Electronic Oscillator

1. Linear/Harmonic Oscillator 2. Non-Linear/Relaxation Oscillator

• Produces a sinusoidal output • Produces a non-sinusoidal output, such
as a square, sawtooth or triangle wave

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Oscillator Circuits
1. Harmonic Oscillator

1.1. Feedback Oscillator 1.2. Negative Resistance Oscillator

• Consists of a feedback loop with • Linear oscillators built using one-
its output fed back into its input port(two terminal) devices with
through a frequency selective negative resistance such as
electronic filter to provide positive magnetron tubes, tunnel diodes,
feedback IMPATT diodes and Gunn diode

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Oscillator Circuits
1.1 Feedback Oscillators
• Consists of a feedback loop with its output fed back into its input through a
frequency selective electronic filter to provide positive feedback
• When the power supply to the amplifier is first switched on, electronic noise in the
circuit provides a non-zero signal to get oscillations started
• The noise travels around the loop and is amplified and filtered until very quickly it
converges on a sine wave at a single frequency
• Examples for Feedback oscillators
- RC oscillator circuits
- LC oscillator circuits
- Crystal oscillator circuits

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Oscillator Circuits
1.2 Negative Resistance Oscillators
• These are the linear oscillators built using one-port(two terminal) devices with negative
resistance such as magnetron tubes, tunnel diodes, IMPATT diodes and Gunn diode
• Negative-resistance oscillators are usually used at high frequencies in the microwave
range and above, since at these frequencies feedback oscillators perform poorly due to
excessive phase shift in the feedback path
• In negative-resistance oscillators, a resonant circuit such as an LC circuit is connected
across a device with negative differential resistance, and a DC bias voltage is applied to
supply energy

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Oscillator Circuits
2. Relaxation Oscillators
• Also known as Non-Linear Oscillators
• Produces a non-sinusoidal output such as a square, sawtooth or triangle wave
• It consists of an energy-storing element (usually a capacitor or, more rarely, an
inductor) and a nonlinear switching device (a Schmitt trigger or a negative-
resistance element) connected in a feedback loop
• The switching device periodically charges and discharges the energy stored in the
storage element thus causing abrupt changes in the output waveform
• Examples for Relaxation Oscillators
- Multi-vibrator
- Pearson–Anson oscillator
- Ring oscillator
- Delay-line oscillator
- Royer oscillator
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1. RC Phase Shift Oscillator Circuit
• This is a kind of a RC oscillator circuit
• It consists of an inverting amplifier element such as a transistor or op amp with its
output fed back to its input through a phase-shift network consisting of resistors
and capacitors
• The feedback network shifts the phase of the amplifier output by 180° at the
oscillation frequency to give positive feedback
• Phase-shift oscillators are often used at audio frequency as audio oscillators
• The filter produces a phase shift that increases with frequency

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1. RC Phase Shift Oscillator Circuit
• Oscillation Frequency

When

• Oscillation Frequency becomes

RC phase-shift oscillator
using an op-amp
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2. Wien Bridge Oscillator Circuit
• This is a kind of a RC oscillator circuit
• The oscillator is based on a bridge circuit originally developed for the
measurement of impedances
• The bridge comprises of four resistors and two capacitors
• The oscillator can also be viewed as a positive gain amplifier combined with a
bandpass filter that provides positive feedback

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2. Wien Bridge Oscillator Circuit
• 𝑅𝑏 is a small incandescent lamp
• In normal operation, 𝑅𝑏 self
heats to the point where its
resistance is 𝑅𝑓 /2. (𝑅𝑏 = 𝑅𝑓 /2 is
the condition for stable
oscillation)

When

• Oscillation Frequency becomes

Wien Bridge oscillator using
an op-amp
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3. Colpitts Oscillator Circuit
• This is a kind of a LC oscillator circuit
• The specific feature of the Colpitts oscillator is that the feedback for the active
device is taken from a voltage divider made of two capacitors in series across the
inductor
• In Colpitts circuit its output is connected to its input in a feedback loop
containing a parallel LC circuit, which functions as a bandpass filter to set the
frequency of oscillation
• The frequency of oscillation is approximately the resonant frequency of the LC
circuit, which is the series combination of the two capacitors in parallel with the
inductor

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3. Colpitts Oscillator Circuit

• The actual frequency of oscillation

will be slightly lower due to
junction capacitances and resistive
loading of the transistor

• Oscillation Frequency is given by;

Colpitts oscillator using a BJT 14

4. Hartley Oscillator Circuit
• This is a kind of a LC oscillator circuit
• The oscillation frequency is determined by a tuned circuit consisting of capacitors
and inductors
• In Hartley oscillator, the tuned circuit consists of a single capacitor in parallel with
two inductors in series
• The feedback signal needed for oscillation is taken from the center connection of
the two inductors
• The Hartley oscillator is the dual of the Colpitts oscillator which uses a voltage
divider made of two capacitors rather than two inductors

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4. Hartley Oscillator Circuit
• Oscillation Frequency is given by;

Here

• If the two coils are magnetically coupled

the total inductance will be greater because
of mutual inductance. Here, K is the
Hartley oscillator using an coupling constant
op-amp
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References
• Lecture notes of EN 2012 module (ENTC) by Dr. Dulika Nayanasiri
• Millman, Jacob et.al., “Millman’s Electronic Devices and Circuits”,
2ndEdition,Tata-McGraw Hill: New Delhi, 2004.
• Bogart, T.F. and Beasle, Jeffrey S., “Electronic Devices and Circuits”, 6thEdition,
Pearson Education: New Delhi, 2004
• Sedra, Adel S. And Smith, Kenneth C., “Microelectronic Circuits”, 6th Edition,
Oxford University Press USA, 2010

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