What is Crystal Oscillator Circuit and its Working?

September 26, 2019 By admin

An electronic circuit or electronic device that is used to generate periodically oscillating electronic signal
is called as an electronic oscillator. The electronic signal produced by an oscillator is typically a sine wave
or square wave. An electronic oscillator converts the direct current signal into an alternating current
signal. The radio and television transmitters are broad casted using the signals generated by oscillators.
The electronic beep sounds and video game sounds are generated by the oscillator signals. These
oscillators generate signals using the principle of oscillation.

There are different types of oscillator electronic circuits such as Linear oscillators – Hartley oscillator,
Phase-shift oscillator, Armstrong oscillator, Clapp oscillator,

Colpitts oscillator , and so on, Relaxation oscillators – Royer oscillator, Ring oscillator, Multivibrator, and
so on, and Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO). In this article, let us discuss in detail about Crystal
oscillator like what is crystal oscillator, crystal oscillator circuit, working, and use of crystal oscillator in
electronic circuits.

What is Crystal Oscillator?

Quartz Crystal Oscillator

An electronic circuit that is used to generate an electrical signal of precise frequency by utilizing the
vibrating crystal’s mechanical resonance made of piezoelectric material. There are different types of
piezoelectric resonators, but typically, quartz crystal is used in these types of oscillators. Hence, these
oscillator electronic circuits are named as crystal oscillators.

Crystal Oscillator Circuit Diagram

The quartz crystal oscillator circuit diagram can be represented as follows:

Electronic Symbol for Piezoelectric Crystal Resonator

The above diagram represents the electronic symbol for a piezoelectric crystal resonator which consists
of two metalized electrodes and quartz crystal.

Equivalent Circuit Diagram of Quartz Crystal

The above figure shows the equivalent circuit diagram of quartz crystal in an electronic oscillator that
consists of resistor, inductor, and capacitors which are connected as shown in the figure.

Crystal Oscillator Working

The atoms, molecules, ions are packed in an order in three spatial dimensions with repeating pattern to
form a solid that can be called as a crystal. The crystal can be made by almost any object that is made of
elastic material by using appropriate electrical transducers . As every object consists of natural resonant
frequency of vibration, steel consists of high speed of sound and is also very elastic.

Thus, steel is frequently used instead of quartz in mechanical filters. This resonant frequency depends on
different parameters such as size, elasticity, speed of sound, and shape of the crystal. In general, the
shape of high frequency crystals is simple rectangular plate and the shape of low frequency crystals is
tuning fork shape as shown in the figure below.

High Frequency-Rectangular Plate Crystals and Low Frequency-Tuning Fork Crystals

Crystal oscillator circuit works on the principle of the inverse piezoelectric effect, i.e., a mechanical
deformation is produced by applying an electric field across certain materials. Thus, it utilizes the
vibrating crystal’s mechanical resonance which is made of a piezoelectric material for generating an
electrical signal of a specific frequency.

These quartz crystal oscillators are highly stable, consists of good quality factor, they are small in size,
and are very economical. Hence, quartz crystal oscillator circuits are superior compared to other
resonators such as LC circuits, turning forks, and so on. Generally, 8MHz crystal oscillator is used in
microprocessors and microcontrollers.

The equivalent electrical circuit also represents the crystal action of the crystal. The basic components
used in the circuit, inductance L1 represent crystal mass, capacitance C1 represents compliance,
resistance R1 represents the crystal’s internal structure friction, and C0 is used to represent the
capacitance that is formed because of crystal’s mechanical moulding.

The quartz crystal oscillator circuit diagram consists of series resonance and parallel resonance, i.e., two
resonant frequencies. If the reactance produced by capacitance C1 is equal and opposite to the
reactance produced by inductance L1, then the series resonance occurs. The series and parallel resonant
frequencies are represented by fs and fp respectively, and the values of fs and fp can be determined by
using the following equations shown in the figure below.

Series Resonant Frequency and Parallel Resonant Frequency

Thus, the impedance is approximately equal to the resistance R1 during this condition. If the series
resonant leg reactance is equal to the reactance caused due to capacitance C0, then parallel resonance
occurs. Thus, the external circuit if offered a very high impedance by the crystal during this condition.

Impedance vs Frequency Graph

The above figure shows the graph between

impedance and frequency of the quartz crystal oscillator circuit. Typically, crystal oscillators are having a
frequency range from 32KHz to 200MHz.

Use of Crystal Oscillator

In general, we know that, crystal oscillators are used in the microprocessors and microcontrollers for
providing the clock signals. Let us consider 8051 microcontroller for which an external crystal oscillator
circuit of 12MHz is essential, even though (based on model) 8051 microcontroller is capable to run at 40
MHz (max). 8051 requires 12 clock cycles for one machine cycle, such that to give effective cycle rate at
1MHz (considering 12MHz clock) to 3.33MHz (considering maximum 40MHz clock). This crystal oscillator
is used to generate clock pulses required for the synchronization of all the internal operations.

There are numerous applications for crystal oscillator in various fields and a few crystal oscillator
applications are shown below:

Application of Crystal Oscillator in Military and Aerospace

The use of crystal oscillator in military and aerospace, is to establish an efficient

communication system , for the navigation purpose, electronic warfare, in the guidance systems, and so
on.

Use of Crystal Oscillator in Research and Measurement

The crystal oscillator is used in research and measurement for celestrial navigation, space tracking
purpose, in the measuring instruments and medical devices, and so on.

Industrial Applications of Crystal Oscillator

There are a huge number of industrial applications of crystal oscillator such as in computers, digital
systems, instrumentation, phase locked loop systems, marine, modems, sensors, telecommunications,
disk drives, and so on.

Use of Crystal Oscillator in Automotive

Crystal oscillator is used for engine controlling, stereo, clock and to trip computer, and in GPS system.

Consumer Applications of Crystal Oscillator

Crystal oscillators are used in many consumer goods such as cable television systems, personal
computers, video cameras, toys and video games, radio systems, cellular phones, and so on.

Do you know the types of crystal oscillator circuits ? Furthermore, technical assistance can be provided
based on your comments posted in the comments below.