OSCILLATORS

An oscillator is a circuit that converts electrical

energy in the form of DC to electrical energy in the
form of AC at certain frequency and amplitude without
any external input signal.
The output voltage can be either sinusoidal or
non-sinusoidal, depending on the type of oscillator.

There are 2 types of oscillator:

1.

Sinusoidal Oscillator - produces a sine-wave

output signal.

2.

Non-sinusoidal Oscillator produces complex

waveforms such as square, rectangular, trigger,
sawtooth, or trapezoidal.

1.0 BASIC OSCILLATOR BLOCK DIAGRAM

DC supply voltage
OscillatorAC output voltage

Sinusoidal Oscillator
(Harmonic Oscillator)

Non-sinusoidal
Oscillator
(Relaxation Oscillator)

Common AC signals
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2.1 A BLOCK DIAGRAM OF OSCILLATOR

Vf

Amplifier
, Av

Timi
ng
Circu

Vout

Feedback
circuit,
Attenuation
+
Phase shift

A basic oscillator consists of:

1. AMPLIFIER with 'Active device' either Transistor or
Op Amp.
- An oscillator must provide amplification to input
signal or voltage gain.
2. FEEDBACK CIRCUIT with passive components such
as R-C or L-C combinations.
- Produces phase shift and attenuation.
3. TIMING CIRCUIT
- Generate audio frequency : RC network oscillator
- Generate radio frequency : LC network oscillator
(Tank circuit)
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2.2 POSITIVE FEEDBACK

To start the oscillation with the constant amplitude,
the oscillator needs a positive feedback circuit.
Positive Feedback: A part of output voltage of an
amplifier is fed back to input through feedback
circuit.
The in-phase feedback voltage, Vf is amplified to
produce the output voltage.
A loop is created in which the signal sustains itself
and a continuous sinusoidal output is produced.
To start the oscillations, output signal must be fed
back in proper magnitude and phase.
V

In-phase
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2.3 REQUIREMENTS FOR OSCILLATION:

Oscillator circuit must satisfy the following 2
conditions known as BARKHAUSEN CONDITIONS:
1. The phase shift around the feedback loop must be
360 or 0.
- This means, the phase shift through the amplifier
and feedback network has to be 360 or 0.
2. The voltage gain, Acl around the closed feedback
loop (loop gain) must unity.
- The voltage gain for the closed feedback loop
(Acl) is the product of the amplifier gain (AV) and
the attenuation () of the feedback circuit.
A cl =A V =1

Example:
If the amplifier has a gain of 100, the feedback circuit
must have an attenuation of 0.01 to make the loop
gain equal to 1.
A cl =A V
100 0.01

1
5

Closed Feedback Loop Gain, Acl

i)
Vf

Av = 1

Av
100

0.01

A cl =A V
100 0.01

In this situat
ion, the
oscillator will operate properly or the output signal will
always oscillate.

ii)
Vf

Av < 1

Av
100

0.001

A cl =A V
100 0.001

0.1

The oscillations die out after a few cycles.

It is because the feedback voltage, Vf is not enough to
maintain the output voltage.
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iii)
Vf

Av > 1

Av
100

0.1

A cl =A V
100 0.1

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In this case, the output voltage will be larger until it

reaches a state of saturation temperature and cutoff
clipping.
2.4 START UP CONDITIONS
The requirements for the oscillation to start when DC
supply voltage is FIRST turned ON.
Every resistor has certain free electrons. At room
temperature these free electrons move randomly
and generate a noise voltage across the resistor
due to collisions. This voltage is also known as
THERMAL NOISE VOLTAGE.
The resistor acts as small AC voltage source. When
power supply is turned ON, for the first time this
small AC noise voltage gets amplified and appears
at the output terminal.
This amplified output is applied to feedback circuit
and output of feedback circuit is fed back to the
amplifier as an input.
This process is repeated and at one particular
frequency, circuit satisfies the necessary conditions
to start oscillation.
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Vcc
(to)
Vout
Amplifier,
Av

Feedback circuit
Attenuation,
+
Phase shift

When oscillation starts, the condition Acl > 1 causes

the sinusoidal output voltage amplitude to build up
to a desired value.
Then, gain, Acl decreases to 1 and maintains the
desired amplitude.

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3.1 A
SINUSOIDAL OSCILLATOR
A sinusoidal oscillator produces a sine-wave output
signal.
The output signal is of constant amplitude with no
variation in frequency.
Sinusoidal oscillator produces signals ranging from
low audio frequencies to ultrahigh radio and
microwave frequencies.

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3.2 Types of Sinusoidal Oscillator:

3.2.1

RC oscillator

- It uses a resistance-Capacitance network to

determine the oscillator frequency.
- They are suitable for low and moderate AUDIO
frequency applications (5Hz to 1MHz).
Example: Phase-Shift Oscillator, Wein-Bridge
Oscillator, Twin-T Oscillator.
3.2.2 LC oscillator

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- Inductors and capacitors are used either in series

or parallel to determine the frequency.
- LC oscillators, which use tank circuits, are
commonly used for the higher RADIO frequencies
(1 to 500 MHz).
Example: Colpitts, Clapp, Hartley, Armstrong,
Crystal Ocsillators.

4.0 RC OSCILLATOR
4.1 PHASE SHIFT OSCILLATOR
A transistor in CE configuration acts as an amplifier
or Op Amp as an inverting amplifier. It amplifies the
input signal and produces a 180 voltage phase
shift.
The feedback network introduces another 180
voltage shift at a resonant frequency (fr).

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Total phase shift = Amplifier + Feedback circuit

= 180 + 180
= 360 @ 0
4.1.1 RC FEEDBACK PHASE SHIFT NETWORK

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Example: 60 phase shift for each RC network.

The phase shift for each RC circuit is not equal.

Each RC network can provide a maximum phase

shift approaching 90 (ideal RC network).

However, the total phase shift for feedback circuit

must equal 180.

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 This results of 360 voltage phase shift, which is the

same as a 0 shift.
4.1.2 TRANSISTOR PHASE SHIFT OSCILLATOR

4.1.3 OP AMP PHASE SHIFT OSCILLATOR

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17

Block diagram of the Phase Shift Oscillator

with RC Feedback

Phase-shift oscillators are seldom used because

they are extremely unstable (in terms of
maintaining a constant frequency and amplitude).

The oscillation frequency (fr) of this Oscillator is:

f r=

1
2 2 N RC

Where:
fr = Output frequency (Hertz)
R = Resistance ()
C = Capacitance (Farad)
N = The number of RC stages.

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If resistance R = R1 = R2 = R3 and capacitance C = C1 =

C2 = C3, there are 3 RC stages (N=3).
f r=

1
2 2 ( 3 ) RC
1
2 6 RC

The attenuation, of the three section RC network:

=

R 1
=
R f 29

The closed loop voltage gain of the op amp:

A=

Rf
>29
R

Example:
A) Determine the value of Rf necessary for the
circuit to operates as an oscillator.
B) Determine the frequency of oscillation.

Given:
C = C1 = C2 = C3 = 0.001F and R = R1 = R2 = R3 = 10k.

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C1

C2

C3

R1

R2

R3

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