Jamil Francis B.

Cuadra
Honey Fatima R.Velasco
Oscillators
These are electronic circuits that generate output signal without needing an
input signal. That is, it generates signal merely from a voltage source. It produces a
periodic waveform with an input of a dc voltage source. The waveform will be
sinusoidal or non-sinusoidal depending on the oscillator that is used or what is
desired. In simple words, it acts as the clock signal that controls the sequential
operation of the entire system.

DC
voltage
source

Oscillat
or

Periodic
signal

Fig 1.1 Basic figure of oscillator

LC circuits
For oscillations to exist, an oscillator circuit must contain reactive
components like capacitor and inductor. LC circuits are commonly called as
Sinusoidal Oscillator or a Harmonic Oscillator. There are many types of LC
circuits. One is what we call Tuned collector Oscillator.

Fig 1.2 Tuned collector oscillator

From Fig 1.2, we can see that a tank circuit which consists of a transformer
and a capacitor connected in the collector terminal of the bjt. This tank circuit is

basically a resistive load when at resonance and thus determines the oscillator
frequency. R1 and R2 acts as the voltage divider bias and Re is necessary for the
stability of the bjt and limits the collector current. This type of oscillator is
commonly used in RF oscillators, circuits, mixers, frequency demodulators, and etc.
Operation:
If a dc voltage source is applied, collector currents starts to increase and
therefore charges the capacitor C1. When this capacitor is fully charged, it will then
be directly discharged to the inductor L1 which sets the oscillating frequency. These
oscillations produced in L1 will produce some voltages which will be induced to the
L2 by mutual induction. This voltage will be applied to the base and the emitter. A
phase shift of 180 degrees is created between the voltages of L1 and L2 by
transformer action. Another 180 degrees phase shift takes place between the baseemitter and collector circuit due to transistor properties. Thus, producing an in
phase output. The frequency of oscillations depends upon the values of L1 and C1
given by:

f=

1
2 ( L1C 1)

Colpitts

Oscillator

Another
what we call

type of LC circuit is
Colpitts Oscillator:

Fig 1.3 Colpitts Oscillator

This oscillator consists of a tank that has two capacitors and one inductor. The
capacitors are connected in series and the inductor is connected in parallel with the
series combination of capacitor. The frequency oscillation is determined by the
equation:

f=

Where Ctotal is,

Ctotal=

1
2 ( L1 C total )

C1C2
C 1+C 2

Operation:
When a dc voltage source is applied, C1 and C2 is charged and will be
discharged to the inductor. This produces oscillations of frequency. The output
voltage is of the amplifier appears at C1 and the feedback voltage is at C2. This
voltage is 180 degrees out of phase with that output voltage and the transistor
provides 180 degrees phase shift. Therefore, feedback is properly phased to
produce continuous oscillation.
Collpitts oscillator is generally used in RF applications and the typical
operating range is 20KHz to 300MHz. In Colpitts oscillator, the capacitive voltage
divider setup in the tank circuit works as the feedback source and this arrangement
gives better frequency stability.
RC circuits:
A linear oscillator circuit which uses an RC network, a combination
of resistors and capacitors, for its frequency selective part is called an RC oscillator.
In a Resistance-Capacitance Oscillator or simply an RC Oscillator, we make use of
the fact that a phase shift occurs between the input to a RC network and the output
from the same network by using RC elements in the feedback branch. RC oscillators
are also called as Phase-shift oscillator. Sine wave output signal is produced
by using regenerative feedback obtained from the resistor-capacitor combination.
One type of RC circuit is Phase shift oscillator shown in Fig 1.4

Fig 1.4 BJT Phase shift Oscillator

The phase-shifter consists of a negative gain amplifier with a third order RC
ladder network in the feedback. The circuit will oscillate at the frequency for which
the phase shift of the RC network is 180 degrees. Only at the frequency will the total
phase shift around the loop be 360 degrees. The minimum number of RC sections is
3 because it is capable of producing a 180 degrees phase shift at a finite frequency.
R1 and R2 acts as a voltage divider. The oscillation frequency is given by:

f=

1
2 ( 6)RC

The basic BJT phase shift oscillator is a useful as a source of low frequency sine
waves but does have a number of drawbacks:
There can be quite a wide difference between the calculated frequency value and
the actual frequency produced.
The waveform amplitude is generally not well stabilized so a good wave shape is
not guaranteed without additional circuitry.
They are difficult to design in variable frequency form as this would involve
ganging together either 3 variable capacitors or 3 large variable resistors, and such
components are not readily available