Islamic University of Technology

EEE 4483
Digital Electronics & Pulse Techniques

Lecture- 12
 Oscillator from the Book of Boylsted

Electronics Devices and Circuit Theory –Robert Boylestad – 11th Ed.

Chapter 14

Page no. 775 – 777, 788 – 791, 798, 800

Osillators
An oscillator provides a source of repetitive A.C. signal across its output terminals without needing any input (except a
D.C. supply). The signal generated by the oscillator is usually of constant amplitude. The wave shape and amplitude
are determined by the design of the oscillator circuit and choice of component values. The frequency of the output
wave may be fixed or variable, depending on the oscillator design.

An oscillator converts electrical energy

from the dc power supply to periodic
waveforms.

• Oscillator – produces a repetitive signal from a DC voltage.

• The feedback oscillator relies on a positive feedback of the
output to maintain the oscillations.
• The feedback gain must be kept to unity to keep the output
from distorting.
Positive Feedback
Positive feedback is characterized by the condition wherein a portion of the
output voltage of an amplifier is fed back to the input with no net phase shift,
resulting in a reinforcement of the output signal.
Types of Osillators
The output voltage can be either sinusoidal or non sinusoidal, depending on the type of oscillator.

Two major classifications for oscillators are feedback oscillators and relaxation oscillators.

=> Oscillators may be classified by the type of signal they produce.

SINE WAVE OSCILLATORS produce a sine wave output.

RELAXATION OSCILLATORS and ASTABLE MULTIVIBRATORS produce Square waves and rectangular pulses.
SWEEP OSCILLATORS produce sawtooth waves.
Application of Osillators
• Oscillators are used to generate signals, e.g.
• Used as a local oscillator to transform the RF signals to IF signals in a receiver;
• Used to generate RF carrier in a transmitter
• Used to generate clocks in digital systems;
• Used as sweep circuits in TV sets and CRO.
Basic principles for oscillation
Oscillator is an amplifier with positive feedback. → The closed loop gain is:
Basic principles for oscillation : continued ..

• In general A and β are functions of frequency and

thus may be written as;

is a loop gain
Basic principles for oscillation : continued ..

• Writing the loop gain becomes;

• Replacing s with jω

→
Basic principles for oscillation : continued ..

• At a specific frequency f0

• At this frequency, the closed loop gain will be infinite

i.e. the circuit will have finite output for zero input signal – oscillation.
Basic principles for oscillation : continued ..

Thus, the condition for sinusoidal oscillation of

frequency f0 is;

This is known as Barkhausen criterion.

The frequency of oscillation is solely determined by

the phase characteristic of the feedback loop – the
loop oscillates at the frequency for which the phase is
zero.
Barkhausen Criterion

Barkhausen criterion are a set of two mathematical conditions which a linear electronic circuit
must follow to act as an electronic oscillator.

According to Barkhausen criterion for sustained oscillation:

❑ The magnitude of the product of open loop gain of the amplifier and the magnitude of the
feedback factor is unity, i.e., |βA|=1 where A is the gain of the amplifying element in the
circuit and β(jω) is the transfer function of the feedback path.

❑ The total phase shift around the loop is 0 or integral multiples of 2π

However, it is important to note that Barkhausen criterion is a necessary condition for

oscillation but not a sufficient condition.
Design Criterion for Oscillators

1. The magnitude of the loop gain must be unity or

slightly larger
– Barkhaussen criterion

2. Total phase shift,φ of the loop gain must be

where N=0, 1, 2, …
Design Criterion for Oscillators
Start up Conditions
• For oscillation to begin, the voltage gain around the positive feedback loop must be greater than 1 so that the
amplitude of the output can build up to a desired level.

• The gain must then decrease to 1 so that the output stays at the desired level and oscillation is sustained.

• Initially, a small positive feedback voltage develops from thermally produced broad-band noise in the resistors
or other components or from power supply turn-on transients.
RC Phase-shift Network
The circuit on the right shows a single resistor-capacitor
network whose output voltage “leads” the input voltage by
some angle less than 90o. An ideal single-pole RC circuit would
produce a phase shift of exactly 90o, and because 180o of phase
shift is required for oscillation, at least two single-poles must be
used in an RC oscillator design.

RC Phase Angle

 
Where: XC is the Capacitive Reactance of the capacitor, R is the Resistance of the
resistor, and ƒ is the Frequency.

In the 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 180 o
(3 x 60o ) as shown by the following vector diagram.
OP-Amp RC Oscillator Circuit
As the feedback is connected to the inverting input, the operational
amplifier is therefore connected in its inverting amplifier
configuration which produces the required 180o phase shift while the
RC network produces the other 180o phase shift at the required
frequency (180o + 180o).

Although it is possible to cascade together only two single-pole RC stages to provide the required 180 o of phase shift (90o
+ 90o), the stability of the oscillator at low frequencies is generally poor.

One of the most important features of an RC Oscillator is its frequency stability which is its ability to provide a constant
frequency sine-wave output under varying load conditions. By cascading three or even four RC stages together (4 x 45 o),
the stability of the oscillator can be greatly improved.

RC Oscillators are stable and provide a well-shaped sine wave output with the frequency being proportional to 1/RC and
therefore, a wider frequency range is possible when using a variable capacitor. However, RC Oscillators are restricted to
frequency applications because of their bandwidth limitations to produce the desired phase shift at high frequencies.
RC Oscillator Circuit : continued ..
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

 
Phase Shift Oscillator

• The phase shift oscillator utilizes three (3) RC circuits to

provide 180° phase shift.
• When coupled with an inverting amplifier with -180°, it
provides the necessary feedback to sustain oscillations.
Phase Shift Oscillator : continued ..

_ R2
C R
_ C A2 _
V2
C V1 A1 + V2 V3 A3
Vi + V1 + Vo

R R

→ →
→ →
Phase Shift Oscillator : continued ..

_ R2
C R
_ C A2 _
V2
C V1 A1 + V2 V3 A3
Vi + V1 + Vo

R R

→
→
Phase Shift Oscillator : continued ..

Loop gain, T(s):

Phase Shift Oscillator : continued ..

Substitute s=jω,
Phase Shift Oscillator : continued ..

To satisfy condition T(jωo) = 1, real component must be zero since the numerator
is purely imaginary.

To get the oscillation frequency:

Substitute ωo in equation:
Phase Shift Oscillator : continued ..

• To satisfy condition |T(jωo)|=1,

→
→

To start oscillation, the ratio R2/R must be slightly greater than 8.

Phase Shift Oscillator : continued ..
• The gain must be at least 29 to maintain the oscillations.
• The frequency of resonance for the this type is similar to
any RC circuit oscillator:
Wein Bridge Oscillator
The Wien bridge oscillator is an electronic oscillator and produces the sine waves. It is a two stage RC circuit
amplifier circuit and it has high quality of resonant frequency, low distortion, and also in the tuning.

The Wien Bridge oscillator is a two-stage RC coupled amplifier circuit that has good stability at its resonant
frequency, low distortion and is very easy to tune making it a popular circuit as an audio frequency oscillator but
the phase shift of the output signal is considerably different from the previous phase shift RC Oscillator.

The Wien Bridge Oscillator uses a feedback circuit consisting of a series RC circuit connected with a parallel RC of
the same component values producing a phase delay or phase advance circuit depending upon the frequency.
At the resonant frequency fr the phase shift is 0o . Consider the circuits below (same config. but differently
drawn).
Wein Bridge Oscillator : contd ..
Oscillator

The lead-lag circuit is in

the positive feedback
loop of Wien-bridge
oscillator. The voltage
divider limits the gain.
The lead lag circuit is
basically a band-pass
with a narrow
bandwidth.
Wein Bridge Oscillator : contd ..
Oscillator

Lead-lag circuit
Wein Bridge Oscillator : contd ..

The loop gain for the oscillator is;

where;

and
Wein Bridge Oscillator : contd ..

Hence;

Substitute s=jω,
Wein Bridge Oscillator : contd ..

For oscillation frequency, f0;

Wein Bridge Oscillator : contd ..

• Since at the frequency of oscillation,

→ T(jω) must be real (for zero phase condition)
→ The imaginary component must be zero;

Thus;
o where the frequency
of resonance:
Wein Bridge Oscillator : contd ..
Wein Bridge Oscillator : contd ..

Insert ωo function into the previous T ( jωo ) equation;

Wein Bridge Oscillator : contd ..

The magnitude condition is, T = 1;

→
→

To start oscillation, the ratio R2/R1 must be slightly greater than 2.

Wein Bridge Oscillator : contd ..

With the ratio;

To ensure oscillation, the ratio R2/R1
must be slightly greater than 2.
then;

K = 3 ensures the loop gain of unity – oscillation

• K > 3 : growing oscillations
• K < 3 : decreasing oscillations
Wein Bridge Oscillator : contd ..
Oscillator

The lead-lag circuit of a Wien-bridge oscillator reduces the input signal

by 1/3 and yields a response curve as shown.
Wein Bridge Oscillator : contd ..
Oscillator

Since there is a loss of about

1/3 of the signal in the
positive feedback loop, the
voltage-divider ratio must be
adjusted so that a positive
feedback loop gain of 1 is
produced.
This requires a closed-loop
gain of 3. The ratio of R1 and
R2 can be set to achieve this.
Wein Bridge Oscillator : contd ..
Oscillator

The gain around

the loop must
equal unity (1).
Wein Bridge Oscillator output

Example of output voltage of the oscillator.

Crystal-Controlled Oscillator
The most stable and accurate type of feedback oscillator uses a piezoelectric crystal in the feedback loop to
control the frequency.
• Quartz is one type of crystalline substance found in nature that exhibits a property called the piezoelectric
effect.
• When a changing mechanical stress is applied across the crystal to cause it to vibrate, a voltage develops
at the frequency of mechanical vibration.
• Conversely, when an ac voltage is applied across the crystal, it vibrates at the frequency of the applied
voltage.
• The greatest vibration occurs at the crystal’s natural resonant frequency, which is determined by the
physical dimensions and by the way the crystal is cut.
Crystal-Controlled Oscillator
A great advantage of the crystal is that it exhibits a very high Q.
• The impedance of the crystal is minimum at the series resonant frequency, thus providing maximum feedback.
• a crystal is used as a series resonant tank circuit.
• The crystal tuning capacitor, Cc is used to “fine tune” the oscillator frequency by “pulling” the resonant
frequency of the crystal slightly up or down.

Modes:
• Piezoelectric crystals can oscillate in either of two modes -fundamental
or overtone.
• The fundamental frequency of a crystal is the lowest frequency at
which it is naturally resonant.
• The fundamental frequency depends on the crystal’s mechanical
dimensions, type of cut, .. etc.
• Usually it’s less than 20 MHz.
• Overtones are approximate integer multiples of the fundamental
frequency.
• Many crystal oscillators are available in integrated circuit packages.
Crystal Oscillator
An op-amp can be used in a crystal oscillator as shown in the figure. The crystal is connected in the series-
resonant path and operates at the crystal series-resonant frequency. The present circuit has a high gain, so
that an output square-wave signal results as shown in the figure. A pair of Zener diodes is shown at the
output to provide output amplitude at exactly the Zener voltage (VZ).