LIMITATIONS OF LC AND RC OSCILLATORS

The LC and RC oscillators have their own limitations. The major problem in such circuits is that their operating frequency does not remain strictly constant. There are two principal reasons for it viz.,

As the circuit operates, it will warm up. Consequently, the values of resistors and inductors, which are the frequency determining factors in these circuits, will change with temperature. This causes the change in frequency of the oscillator.
If any component in the feedback network is changed, it will shift the operating frequency of the oscillator.

However, in many applications, it is desirable and necessary to maintain the frequency constant with extreme low tolerances. For example, the frequency tolerance for a broadcasting station should not exceed 0.002% i.e. change in frequency due to any reason should not be more than 0.002% of the specified frequency. The broadcasting stations have frequencies which are quite close to each other. In fact, the frequency difference between two broadcasting stations is less than 1%. It is apparent that if we employ LC or RC circuits, a change of temperature may cause the frequencies of adjacent broadcasting stations to overlap. In order to maintain constant frequency, piezoelectric crystals are used in place of LC or RC circuits. Oscillators of this type are called crystal oscillators. The frequency of a crystal oscillator changes by less than 0.1% due to temperature and other changes. Therefore, such oscillators offer the most satisfactory method of stabilizing the frequency and are used in great majority of electronic applications.

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