Unit 3 - OSCILLATORS

3.1 Introduction:

An Oscillator is an electronic device used for converting dc power

into ac power.
- Oscillatorsgenerate an output signal without the necessity of an
input signal.
- It produces a periodic waveform on its output with only the DC
supply voltage as an input.
- The output voltage can be either sinusoidal or non-sinusoidal,
depending on the type of oscillator.
- Different types of oscillators produce various types of outputs
including sine waves, square waves, triangular waves, and sawtooth
waves.
- A basic oscillator is shown in the figure

*An oscillator generates alternating voltages or current over wide frequency range and the frequency of oscillations may be varied
easily. Oscillators are used for various purposes such as in radio and tvtransmitters and receivers ,telecommunication antennas etc,.

*An oscillator may use one or more transistors or FET. Oscillator circuit draws dc power from supply voltage and convert this dc
power into ac power of desired frequency.

Difference between Amplifier and an Oscillator

The amplifier can therefore be described as an energy converter, it

accepts energy from the DC power supply and converts it to energy
at the signal frequency. The process of energy conversion is
controlled by the input signal, Thus if there is no input signal, no
energy conversion takes place and there is no output signal.

The oscillator, on the other hand, requires no external signal to

initiate or maintain the energy conversion process. Instead an
output signals is produced as long as source of DC power is
connected. Below figure, shows the block diagram of an amplifier
and an oscillator.

Oscillator Types

Oscillators may be classified in terms of their output waveform, frequency range, components, or circuit configuration.

If the output waveform is sinusoidal, it is called harmonic oscillator otherwise it is called relaxation oscillator, which include square,
triangular and saw tooth waveforms.

Oscillators employ both active and passive components. The active components provide energy conversion mechanism. Typical active
devices are transistor, Op-Amp,FET etc. Passive components normally determine the frequency of [Link] devices may
include resistors, inductors, capacitors, transformers, and resonant crystals.

Capacitors used in oscillators circuits should be of high quality. Because of low losses and excellent stability, silver mica or ceramic
capacitors are generally preferred.

There are basically two types of Oscillators

Sinusoidal Oscillators – these are known as Harmonic Oscillators and are generally a “LC Tuned-feedback” or “RC tuned-
feedback” type Oscillator that generates a purely sinusoidal waveform which is of constant amplitude and frequency.

Non-Sinusoidal Oscillators – these are known as Relaxation Oscillators and generate complex non-sinusoidal waveforms
that changes very quickly from one condition of stability to another such as “Square-wave”, “Triangular-wave” or “Saw-
toothed-wave” type waveforms.
3.2:Theory Of Oscillators

Every oscillator circuit consists of following basic components

 Internal amplifier or basic amplifier
 Feedback Network
 Amplitude limiting device
An oscillator may be considered as an amplifier with infinite gain.i.e, an amplifier which gives finite output voltage Vo with zero
input voltage Vi. Thus amplifier forms an essential part of an oscillator .The infinite gain for the amplifier is achieved by the feedback
as follows.

For a positive feedback amplifier the feedback gain is written as

Af = A .
1-Aβ

Now if we make Aβ = 1,thenAf becomes infinite,ie,. The amplifier becomes an oscillator.

The figure gives the block diagram of a feedback oscillator. It consists of an internal amplifier of gain A,feedback network β and a
mixing network.
Vs Internal Amplifier Vo = AVs Output
1
A
2
l
Vf = - Vf
-1
Feedback Network
β
Vf = β Vo Vo
= A β Vs
Let the input signal be Vs and the resulting output be Vo
The feedback network samples this output Vo and resulting feedback voltage is

Vf = β Vo = A β Vs

The mixing network inverts Vf to -Vf = -A β Vs and let it be identical with Vs.

If now the external source Vs is removed and the terminal 2 is connected to terminal 1, then amplifier continues to provide at its
output voltage Vo as before. Obviously the system now functions as an [Link] necessary condition for oscillation is
Vfl = Vs
For sustained oscillations it may be written as
- A β Vs = Vs
i.e,.- A β = 1
The quantity -Aβ is the loop gain of the complete feedback circuit and this shows that for sustained oscillations loop gain -Aβ must be
equal to unity.

3.3 Conditions for Oscillations: -

BARKHAUSEN CRITERION
Figure 4 General conditions to sustain
oscillation.
Two conditions, illustrated in below figure are
required for a sustained state of oscillation:

1. The phase shift around the feedback loop

must be effectively 0 or 360 degrees.

2. The loop gainAβ must equal 1 (unity). i.e,. Aβ

=1
It is difficult to design circuits with A=1 as circuit
parameters vary with temperature, time, and component
values.

If A< 1 oscillator ceases,

If A> 1 oscillation grows until circuit saturates.

Generally for sustained oscillations the product of transfer

gain A of ampliifer and magnitude of feedback ration β is
equal to or greater than unity...i.e,. Aβ ≥ 1.

In practical oscillator circuits Aβ is kept slightly (typically

5%) larger than unity.

3.4 Oscillator Resonance.

First we will review the effects of frequency on a circuit which contains resistance, inductance, and capacitance.

3.4.1 Effect of Frequency on Inductive Reactance

In a circuit, an inductor produces inductive reactance which causes the current to lag thevoltage by 90 degrees.
XL=2∏fL
As shown in the equation, any increase in frequency, or "f," will cause a corresponding increase of inductive reactance, or "X L."
Therefore, the inductive reactance varies directly with the frequency. As you can see, the higher the frequency, the greater the
inductive reactance; the lower the frequency, the less the inductive reactance for a given inductor. This relationship is illustrated
infigure below.

Increasing values of XL are plotted in terms of increasing frequency.

Starting at the lower left corner with zero frequency, the inductive
reactance is zero. As the frequency is increased (reading to the right), the
inductive reactance is shown to increase in direct proportion.

3.4.2 Effect of
Frequency on Capacitive Reactance

In a circuit, a capacitor produces a reactance which causes the current to lead the
voltage by 90 degrees.

XC=1 .
2∏fc
In contrast to the inductive reactance, this equation indicates that the capacitive
reactance varies inversely with the frequency. When f = 0, X C is infinite (∞) and
decreases as frequency increases. That is, the lower the frequency, the greater the
capacitive reactance; the higher the frequency, the less the reactance for a given capacitor. As shown in below figure , the effect of
capacitance is opposite to that of inductance.

3.4.3 Effect of Frequency on Resistance

In the expression for inductive reactance, and in the expression for capacitive reactance, any change of frequency changes the
reactance of the circuit components as already explained. So far, nothing has been said about the effect of frequency on resistance. In
an Ohm's law relationship, such as R = V/I no "f" is involved. Thus, for all practical purposes, a change of frequency does not affect
the resistance of the circuit.

3.4.4 Resonance
For every combination of L and C, there is only onefrequency that causes X L to exactly equal XC; this frequency is known as the
resonant frequency. resonant circuits are tuned circuits. The circuit condition wherein X L becomes equal to XC is known as Resonance.

3.4.5 Resonance Frequency

As stated before, the frequency at which XL equals XC (in a given
circuit) is known as the resonant frequency of that circuit. Based on
this, the following formula has been derived to find the exact
resonant frequency when the values of circuit components are
known:

where: ƒr is in Hertz, L is in Henries and C is in Farads.

Then the frequency at which this will happen is given as:

Resonant Frequency of an oscillator

 Where:
 L is the Inductance in Henries
 C is the Capacitance in Farads
 ƒr is the Output Frequency in Hertz

This equation shows that if either L or C are decreased, the frequency increases. This output frequency is commonly given the
abbreviation of (ƒr ) to identify it as the “resonant frequency”.

At high frequencies the reactance of a capacitor is very low acting as a short circuit while the reactance of the inductor is high acting
as an open circuit. At low frequencies the reverse is true, the reactance of the capacitor acts as an open circuit and the reactance of the
inductor acts as a short circuit.
Between these two extremes the combination of the inductor and capacitor produces a “Tuned” or “Resonant” circuit that has a
Resonant Frequency, (ƒr ) in which the capacitive and inductive reactance’s are equal and cancel out each other.

3.5 Basic LC Oscillator Tank Circuit

The circuit consists of an inductive coil, L and a capacitor, C. The

inductor and capacitors are reactive elements i.e. they are capable of
storing energy. The capacitor stores energy in its electric field.
Whenever there is voltage across its plates, and the inductor stores
energy in its magnetic field whenever current flows through it. Both C
and L are assumed to be loss less. Energy can be introduced into the
circuit by charging the capacitor with a voltage V as shown in
belowfigure . As long as the switch S is open, C cannot discharge and so
i=0 and V=0.

Now S is closed at t = to, This means V rises from 0 to V, Just before closing inductor current was zero and inductor current cannot be
changed instantaneously. Current increases from zero value sinusoidally.

The capacitor losses its charge and energy is simply transferred from capacitor to inductor magnetic field. The total energy is still
same. At t = t1, all the charge has been removed from the capacitor plates and voltage reduces to zero and at
current reaches to its maximum value. The current for t> t1 charges C in the opposite direction and current
decreases. Thus LC oscillation takes places. Both voltage and current are sinusoidal though no sinusoidal input
was applied. The frequency of oscillation is

This process then forms the basis of an LC oscillators tank circuit and theoretically this cycling back and forth will continue
indefinitely. However, things are not perfect and every time energy is transferred from the capacitor, C to inductor, L and back from L
to C some energy losses occur which decay the oscillations to zero over time.

This oscillatory action of passing energy back and forth between the capacitor, C to
the inductor, L would continue indefinitely. Electrical energy is lost in the real
resistance of the inductors coil, in the dielectric of the capacitor, and in radiation
from the circuit so the oscillation steadily decreases until they die away completely
and the process stops.

Then in a practical LC circuit the amplitude of the oscillatory voltage decreases at

each half cycle of oscillation and will eventually die away to zero as soon as the
energy in the tank is consumed. The oscillations are then said to be “damped” Figure: Damped oscillations

To keep the oscillations going in an LC tank circuit, we have to replace all the energy lost in each oscillation and also maintain the
amplitude of these oscillations at a constant level. The amount of energy replaced must therefore be equal to the energy lost during
each cycle.

If the energy replaced is too large the amplitude would increase until clipping of the supply rails occurs. Alternatively, if the amount
of energy replaced is too small the amplitude would eventually decrease to zero over time and the oscillations would stop.

The simplest way of replacing this lost energy is to

take part of the output from the LC tank circuit,
amplify it and then feed it back into the LC circuit
again. This process can be achieved using a voltage
amplifier using an op-amp, FET or bipolar transistor
as its active device.

3.6 Tuned collector Oscillator

Tuned collector oscillation is a type of transistor LC

oscillator where the tuned circuit (tank) consists of a
transformer and a capacitor is connected in the
collector circuit of the transistor. Tuned collector
oscillator is of course the simplest and the basic type
of LC oscillators. The tuned circuit connected at the
collector circuit behaves like a purely resistive load at
resonance and determines the oscillator frequency. The circuit diagram of a conventional tuned collector oscillator is shown in the
figure below.

When the power supply is switched ON, the transistor starts conducting and the capacitor C1 starts charging. When the capacitor is
fully charged, it starts discharging through the primary coil L1. Capacitor C1 and primary of the transformer L1 forms the tank circuit.
This charging and discharging sets up a series of oscillations in the tank circuit.

The oscillations produced in the tank circuit is fed back to the base of transistor Q1 by the secondary coil by inductive coupling. The
amount of feedback can be adjusted by varying the turns ratio of the transformer. The winding direction of the secondary coil (L2) is
in such a way that the voltage across it will be 180° phase opposite to that of the voltage across primary (L1). Thus the feedback
circuit produces a phase shift of 180° and the transistor alone produces a phase shift of another 180°. As a result a total phase shift of
360° is obtained between input and output and it is a very necessary condition for positive feedback and sustained oscillations.

The collector current of the transistor compensates the energy lost in the tank circuit. This is done by taking a small amount of voltage
from the tank circuit, amplifying it and applying it back to the tank circuit. Capacitor C1 can be made variable in variable frequency
applications.

The frequency of oscillations of the tank circuit can be expressed using the following equation: F = 1/[2π√(L1C1)]

Where F is the frequency of oscillation.L1 is the inductance of the transformer primary and C1 is the capacitance.

3.7 Hartley Oscillator

A Hartley Oscillator circuit can be made from any configuration that uses either a single tapped coil (similar to an autotransformer) or
a pair of series connected coils in parallel with a single capacitor as shown below.

The Hartley circuit is often referred to as a split-inductance oscillator. Above figure shows Hartley oscillator using a BJT. In the
Hartley Oscillator the tuned LC circuit is connected between the collector and the base of a transistor amplifier.

When the circuit is oscillating, the voltage at point X (collector), relative to point Y (emitter), is 180 o out-of-phase with the voltage at
point Z (base) relative to point Y. Then there is a 180 o phase change in the voltage between the Base and Collector and this along with
the original 180o phase shift in the feedback loop provides the correct phase relationship of positive feedback for oscillations to be
maintained.

The tuned circuit L1,L2 and C determines the frequency of [Link] the tuned circuit is connected from collector circuit (i.e.,
output ) to the base circuit (i.e,. input) the feedback needed for sustained oscillations takes place through the tuned circuit itself.

when the LC tank is resonant, the circulating current flows through L1 in series with L2.

Thus, the equivalent inductance is L = L1 + L2.

In the oscillator, the feedback voltage is developed by L 1& L2. Since the output voltage appears across L 1 and the feedback voltage
across L2, the feedback fraction is β = Vf/ Vout = XL2 / XL1 = L2 / L1

For oscillations to start, the voltage gain must be greater than 1/ β. The frequency of oscillation is given by
Note: LT is the total cumulatively coupled inductance if two separate coils are used including their mutual inductance, M.
3.7.1 Hartley Oscillator Op-amp Circuit

The operation of an Op-amp Hartley Oscillator is exactly the same as for the
transistorized version with the frequency of operation calculated in the same manner.
Consider the circuit

The advantage of constructing a Hartley Oscillator using an operational amplifier as its

active stage is that the gain of the op-amp can be very easily adjusted using the feedback
resistors R1 and R2.

3.8 Colpitts Oscillator

The figure shows the circuit of colpitts oscillator. The Colpitts Oscillator design
uses two capacitors in series with a parallel inductor to form its resonance tank
circuit and produce sinusoidal oscillations. The basic configuration of the
Colpitts Oscillator resembles that of the Hartley Oscillator but the difference is
the inductance and capacitance are interchanged.

The emitter terminal of the transistor is effectively connected to the junction of

the two capacitors, C1 and C2 which are connected in series. When the power
supply is firstly applied, capacitors C1 and C2 charge up and then discharge
through the coil L. The oscillations across the capacitors are applied to the
base-emitter junction and appear in the amplified at the collector output.

Resistors, R1 and R2 provide the usual stabilizing DC bias for the transistor in
the normal manner while the additional capacitors act as a DC-blocking bypass
capacitors. A radio-frequency choke (RFC) is used in the collector circuit to provide a high reactance (ideally open circuit) at the
frequency of oscillation, ( ƒr ) and a low resistance at DC to help start the oscillations.

The required external phase shift is obtained in a similar manner to that in the Hartley oscillator circuit with the required positive
feedback obtained for sustained un-damped oscillations. The amount of feedback is determined by the ratio of C1 and C2. These two
capacitances are generally “ganged” together to provide a constant amount of feedback so that as one is adjusted the other
automatically follows.

The frequency of oscillations for a Colpitts oscillator is determined by the resonant frequency of the LC tank circuit and is given as:
where CT is the capacitance of C1 and C2 connected in series and is given as:

The configuration of the transistor amplifier is of a Common Emitter Amplifier with the output signal 180 o out of phase with regards
to the input signal. The additional 180 o phase shift require for oscillation is achieved by the fact that the two capacitors are connected
together in series but in parallel with the inductive coil resulting in overall phase shift of the circuit being zero or 360 o.

The amount of feedback depends on the values of C1 and C2. We can see that the voltage across C1 is the the same as the oscillators
output voltage, Vout and that the voltage across C2 is the oscillators feedback voltage. Then the voltage across C1 will be much
greater than that across [Link], by changing the values of capacitors, C1 and C2 we can adjust the amount of feedback voltage
returned to the tank circuit. However, large amounts of feedback may cause the output sine wave to become distorted, while small
amounts of feedback may not allow the circuit to [Link] the amount of feedback developed by the Colpitts oscillator is based
on the capacitance ratio of C1 and C2 and is what governs the the excitation of the oscillator. This ratio is called the
“feedback fraction” and is given simply as:

3.8.1 Colpitts Oscillator using an Op-amp

The operation of an Op-amp Colpitts Oscillator is exactly the same as
for the transistorised version with the frequency of operation
calculated in the same manner. Consider the circuit given.

The advantages of the Colpitts Oscillator over the Hartley oscillators

are that the Colpitts oscillator produces a more purer sinusoidal
waveform due to the low impedance paths of the capacitors at high
frequencies. Also due to these capacitive reactance properties the FET
based Colpitts oscillator can operate at very high frequencies. Of course any op-amp or FET used as the amplifying device must be
able to operate at the required high frequencies.

3.9 Clapp Oscillator

Clapp oscillator is a variation of Colpitts oscillator in which an

additional capacitor (C3) is added into the tank circuit to be in series
with the inductor in it, as shown in the figure.

Hence, the working of this circuit is almost identical to that of the

Colpitts, However the frequency of oscillation in the case of Clapp
oscillator is given by

Usually the value of C3 is chosen to be much smaller than the other

two capacitors. This is because, at higher frequencies, smaller the C 3,
larger will be the inductor, which eases the implementation. However,
here it is to be noted that when C3 is chosen to be smaller in
comparison with C1 and C2, the net capacitance governing the circuit
will be more dependent on it. Thus the equation for the frequency can be approximated as

Capacitor C3 is used for tuning purpose and thus frequency is nothing but the frequency of series resonance of L and [Link], the
presence of this extra capacitance will make the Clapp oscillator preferable over Colpitts when there is a need to vary the frequency.
The reason behind this can be explained as follows.

In the case of Colpitts oscillator, the capacitors C 1 and C2 need to be varied inorder to vary its frequency of operation. However during
this process, even the feedback ratio of the oscillator changes which inturn affects its output waveform. One solution to this problem is
to make both C1 and C2 to be fixed in nature while achieve the variation in frequency using a separate variable capacitor. As could be
guessed, this is what the C3 does in the case of Clapp oscillator, which inturn makes it more stable over Colpittsinterms of frequency.

3.10 RC Oscillator

In a Resistance-Capacitance Oscillator or simply an RC Oscillator which is also known as a Phase-shift Oscillator, produces a sine
wave output signal using positive feedback obtained from the resistor-capacitor combination.

In an RC Oscillator circuit the input is shifted 180 o through the amplifier stage and 180 o again through a second inverting stage giving
us “180o + 180o = 360o” of phase shift which is effectively the same as 0o thereby giving us the required positive feedback.

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 90 o. An ideal RC circuit would produce a
phase shift of exactly 90o, and because 180o of phase shift is
required for oscillation, at least two RC networks must be used in an RC
oscillator design. However in reality it is difficult to obtain
exactly 90o of phase shift so more stages are used. The amount
of actual phase shift in the circuit depends upon the values of
the resistor and the capacitor.

In circuit, 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 60 o giving a phase
difference between the input and output of 180 o (3 x 60o) as shown by the
following diagram

This resistor-capacitor feedback network can be connected as shown

above to produce a leading phase shift (phase advance network) or
interchanged to produce a lagging phase shift (phase retard network) the
outcome is still the same as the sine wave oscillations only occur at the frequency
at which the overall phase-shift is 360o.
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:

Where:

 ƒr is the Output Frequency in Hertz

 R is the Resistance in Ohms
 C is the Capacitance in Farads
 N is the number of RC stages. (N = 3)

The Op-amp RC Oscillator

When used as RC oscillators, Operational Amplifier RC

Oscillators are more common than their bipolar transistors
counterparts. The oscillator circuit consists of a inverting amplifier
and a three section RC network that produces the 180 o phase shift. The
phase shift network is connected from the op-amps output back to
its “inverting” input as shown.

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).

RC Oscillator Op-amp Circuit

3.11 Wien Bridge 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 ƒr the phase shift is 0 o. Consider the
RC Phase Shift Network below.

At low frequencies the reactance of the series capacitor (C1) is very high so
acts like an open circuit and blocks any input signal at Vin. Therefore there
is no output signal, Vout. At high frequencies, the reactance of the parallel capacitor, (C2) is very low so this parallel connected
capacitor acts like a short circuit on the output so again there is no output signal. However, between these two extremes the
output voltage reaches a maximum value with the frequency at which this happens being called the Resonant Frequency, (ƒr).
At this resonant frequency, the circuits reactance equals its resistance as Xc = R so the phase shift between the input and output
equals zero degrees.
Oscillator Phase Shift

It can be seen that at very low frequencies the phase angle between the
input and output signals is “Positive” (Phase Advanced), while at very
high frequencies the phase angle becomes “Negative” (Phase Delay). In
the middle of these two points the circuit is at its resonant frequency, (ƒr)
with the two signals being “in-phase” or 0 o. We can therefore define this
resonant frequency point with the following expression.
 Wien Bridge Oscillator Frequency At this resonant frequency, the circuits reactance equals its resistance as Xc = R

Where:
 ƒr is the Resonant Frequency in Hertz
 R is the Resistance in Ohms
 C is the Capacitance in Farads

The circuit diagram of Wien bridge oscillator is shown in

the figure. It employs two transistors, each producing a
phase shift of 180°, and thus producing a total phase-shift of
360° or 0°.

It is essentially a two-stage amplifier with an R-C bridge

circuit. R-C bridge circuit (Wien bridge) is a lead-lag
network. The phase’-shift across the network lags with
increasing frequency and leads with decreasing frequency.
By adding Wien-bridge feedback network, the oscillator
becomes sensitive to a signal of only one particular
frequency called resonant frequency. This particular
frequency is that at which Wien bridge is balanced and for
which the phase shift is 0°.

In the bridge circuit R1 in series with C1, R3, R4 and R2 in

parallel with C2 form the four arms. This bridge circuit can be used as feedback network for an oscillator, provided that the phase shift
through the amplifier is zero. This requisite condition is achieved by using a two stage amplifier, as illustrated in the figure. In this
arrangement the output of the second stage is supplied back to the feedback network and the voltage across the parallel combination
C2 R2 is fed to the input of the first stage. Transistor Q 1 cause a phase shift of 180°. The two transistors Q 1 and Q2 thus cause a total
phase shift of 360° and ensure proper positive feedback.

The Op-amp WeinBridge Oscillator

The output of the operational amplifier is fed back to both the inputs of the
amplifier. One part of the feedback signal is connected to the inverting input
terminal (negative feedback) via the resistor divider network of R1 and R2 which
allows the amplifiers voltage gain to be adjusted within narrow limits. The other
part is fed back to the non-inverting input terminal (positive feedback) via the RC
Wien Bridge network.

The RC network is connected in the positive feedback path of the amplifier and has
zero phase shift a just one frequency. Then at the selected resonant frequency,
( ƒr ) the voltages applied to the inverting and non-inverting inputs will be equal and
“in-phase” so the positive feedback will cancel out the negative feedback signal
causing the circuit to oscillate.

3.12 Crystal Oscillator:

Some crystals found in nature exhibit the piezoelectric effect i.e. when an ac voltage is applied across them, they vibrate at the
frequency of the applied voltage. Conversely, if they are mechanically pressed, they generate an ac voltage. The main substances that
produce this piezoelectric effect are Quartz, Rochelle salts, and Tourmaline.

Rochelle salts have greatest piezoelectric activity, for a given ac voltage, they vibrate more than quartz or tourmaline. Mechanically,
they are the weakest they break easily. They are used in microphones, phonograph pickups, headsets and loudspeakers.

Tourmaline shows the least piezoelectric activity but is a strongest of the three. It is also the most expensive and used at very high
frequencies.

Quartz is a compromise between the piezoelectric activity of Rochelle salts and the strength of tourmaline. It is inexpensive and easily
available in nature. It is most widely used for RF oscillators.
The natural shape of a quartz crystal is a hexagonal prism
with pyramids at the ends. To get a useable crystal out of
this it is sliced in a rectangular slap form of thickness t.
The number of slabs we can get from a natural crystal
depends on the size of the slabs and the angle of cut.
For use in electronic circuits, the slab is mounted between
two metal plates, as shown in above figure. In this circuit
the amount of crystal vibration depends upon the
frequency of applied voltage. By changing the frequency,
one can find resonant frequencies at which the crystal
vibrations reach a maximum. Since the energy for the vibrations must be supplied by the ac source, the ac current is maximized at
each resonant frequency. The formula for the fundamental frequency of a crystal is
f = K / t.
where K is a constant that depends on the cut and other factors, t is the thickness of crystal, f is inversely proportional to thickness t.
The thinner the crystal, the more fragile it becomes and the more likely it is to break because of vibrations. Quartz crystals may have
fundamental frequency up to 10 MHz. To get higher frequencies, a crystal is mounted to vibrate on overtones; we can reach
frequencies up to 100 MHz.

Some oscillators employ combinations of inductors, resistors, and/or capacitors to determine the frequency. However, the best stability
(constancy of frequency) is obtained in oscillators that use quartz crystals.

In a computer, a specialized oscillator, called the clock, serves as a sort of pacemaker for the microprocessor. The clock frequency (or
clock speed) is usually specified in megahertz (MHz), and is an important factor in determining the rate at which a computer can
perform instructions

Crystal Oscillator Circuit:

When we use in oscillator, the quartz crystal replaces the tuned circuit and determines
the frequency of oscillations. The below circuit shows crystal oscillator. In the below
circuit quartz crystal is put in the place of inductor L.

The frequency of resonance of a crystal is determined by

 Crystal dimensions
 Shape of crystal plate
 Orientation of crystal plate
 Elastic constants of crystal material

By using a special quartz crystal having zero temperature coefficient, a high stability
of frequency of oscillations is obtained.