An oscillator is a circuit that outputs a periodic signal. Over the past few decades, the usage of oscillators in electronics has increased steadily. They play a central and highly significant role in digital and analog electronic systems. As a result, conventional oscillators have been replaced by high end oscillators which offer the benefits of more features, higher performance, faster availability, higher robustness and reliability at lower cost.
Today, people prefer to use digital devices that are known for precise timing. And, this preciseness is provided by
oscillators and similar timing sources. High end oscillators or timers are essential for the enhanced performance of most of the modern electronic devices. Almost every other electronic device uses oscillators or timers including digital timepieces, computers, televisions, cellular phones, radios, transistors, personal digital assistant, etc. However, a high frequency oscillator is used for a digital information communication circuit and so on.
There are several types of oscillators and each has its own characteristics and specific function to perform. That's why it's quite essential to understand the exact functionality of particular oscillator and its specific relationship with the application in which it is going to be implemented. Although oscillators design and usage are simple in concept, the selection of a wrong oscillator for an application can give rise to difficulties.
Oscillators are manufactured to suit a wide range of applications from low cost oscillators through to high reliability oscillators. On the basis of output produced by the oscillators, they are divided into various types such as Voltage Control Crystal Oscillators (VCXOs), Xpresso Oscillators, SMD Oscillators,
Temperature Control Crystal Oscillators (TCXOs), etc. Application where frequency stability is required, a crystal oscillator is used as a high frequency oscillator. These oscillators use the mechanical resonance of a physical crystal of piezoelectric material to create an electrical signal with a very precise frequency. However, a voltage control crystal oscillator uses a circuit that helps to generate an oscillating signal at a frequency proportional to an extremely applied control voltage. They are best for the applications such as processor clock generation and distribution, communications, system synchronization and frequency synthesizers.
On the other hand, Temperature Compensated Crystal Oscillators feature tremendous temperature characteristic with low power consumption and speedy heat up. They are considered to be highly temperature-stable device at a given temperature.
As can be seen from the above comparison that every oscillator has its own characteristics, therefore selecting right oscillator for the application is quite necessary to get high performance.
