Talk:Crystal oscillator

message: tl;dr I think the article should specify that a quartz oscillator works by means of the cyrstal deforming slightly, which then opens the circuit as the physical connection is lost, and so then the crystl deforms back into original shape, whereupon it touches the wire again and is again subjected to a voltage which again causes it to deform, re-starting the cycle. If indeed that is how a crystal oscillator works.
I've never fully understood an explanation of how a crystal/quartz oscillator works. I'd always heard the explanation that "a quartz crustal is piezoelectric, which means it will slightly deform/get stresses when a voltage is applied to it." OK.... so if you glued a wire to a quartz crystl, and aplied a steady DC voltage, it would deform, but it would just stay deformed, no? I have always GUESSED that what they meant was that in deformation the contact with the voltage source is disconnected, which removes the voltage and then the deformation goes back to original shape, creating a cycle of voltage - no-voltage accompanied by stress - no-stress.
I just figured to look it up on reddit, ELI5, and it seems my hunch about how it works was correct. One poster said it essentially as I said it.
So if that's correct, should we not somehow convey that? I'm sick and tired of half-explanations and wikipedia is supposed to be the one source that's relatively good at stuff like this.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by EdwinAmi (talk • contribs) 22:27, 2 February 2017 (UTC)
replies: text:  OK, the same night that I made this comment I finally managed to research enough to understand what happens. The crystal's oscillations is maintained SPECIFICALLY by wiring it through an amplifier/oscillator circuit that outputs back to the crystal itself. That is, without this special set up, nothing would happen. A DC current would create a momentary oscillation as the crystal deformed, and that oscialltion would die out as the crystal maintains its new shape. An AC power source alone also wouldn't do anything special. It specifically has to be this amplifier circuit set-up  — Preceding unsigned comment added by EdwinAmi (talk • contribs) 21:49, 19 February 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Fundamental workings

message: The entire second paragraph sounds funny to me. If nobody objects, I would like to rewrite the entire thing.
There are no frequencies going into our coming out of the crystal.
Depending on the implementation of a oscillator circuit (if it uses series or parallel resonance), one usually builds a feedback system with the oscillator in the feedback loop.
At the frequency of interest, the impedance of the oscillator becomes very small (series resonance) or very large (parallel resonance). This is in turn used to create a positive feedback, ONLY at those frequencies. The positive feedback amplification will thus build up and sustain an oscillation. Nonlinear effects or amplitude control are usually employed to sustain the oscillation at a certain amplitude and not let it grow too large.
If there are no objections during the next week or so, I will rewrite this section.
Agunther (talk) 21:43, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Crystals and frequency

message: I've taken 10.7 MHZ off the list.  The last thing you want in a Superheterodyne receiver is an oscillator right on the IF frequency - this would essentialy block the desired IF signal.I don't think it's a common frequency at all.  It certainly isn't in the Digi-Key on-line catalog.  You will find ceramic filters at 10.7 MHZ but that's not a crystal oscillator. The whole list of frequencies is pretty well useless; you can get a crystal ground to any frequency you like and I can't see what value the list has.  The general reader will be baffled and wonder why only certain frequencies are on the list, and the technical reader already knows taht some frequencies are stock and some are custom order. --Wtshymanski (talk) 14:14, 19 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Frequency list

message: 28.322 MHz is also common frequency used on VGA cards for video, to get same horizontal and vertical timings for 360 and 720 pixel wide modes than 25.175 MHz generates for 320 and 640 pixel wide modes (see VGA article). Does anyone else know any other uses for 28.322 MHz?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.153.27.229 (talk) 13:16, 19 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Should 28.322 MHz be on the list? 

message: The site Explain that Stuff! has an article on quartz clocks and watches that has a link to this article at the bottom.  It describes this article as:  "This is one of those slightly baffling Wikipedia articles likely to make sense only to people who know enough about the subject to write the article in the first place."   Just thought we should take note of this feedback (although the article may have been substantially improved since it was written).  I think the description of how a quartz oscillator works could use a rewrite to make it more accessible to nontechnical readers.  --ChetvornoTALK 22:15, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Exactly.  The article has been improved quite a bit since that 2010 post, but I think the explanation could still use a rewrite to emphasize that those two points are the requirements for a piezoelectric resonator.  Another point that should be mentioned is low CTE. --ChetvornoTALK 08:00, 1 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  What the web thinks of this article 

message: In "Electrical model" we can read:
"... a 6 pF 32 kHz crystal has a parallel resonance frequency of 32,768 Hz when a 6.0 pF capacitor is placed across the crystal"
I think that is not accurate. 1 kHz (kilo-Hertz, not kibi-Hertz) = 1 000 Hz (not 1 024 Hz.) Besides, it is recommended to use blank spaces instead of commas for separating groups of three digits. I suggest the following:
"... a 6 pF 32 kHz crystal has a parallel resonance frequency of 32 000 Hz when a 6.0 pF capacitor is placed across the crystal"
Or perhaps:
"... a 6 pF 32.767 kHz crystal has a parallel resonance frequency of 32 767 Hz when a 6.0 pF capacitor is placed across the crystal"
Ignacio González (talk) 11:15, 3 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  32 kHz or 32,768 Hz? 

message: We need to add discussion of temperature compensation techniques and point TCXO to this discussion. --Kvng (talk) 14:19, 10 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Temperature compensation 

message: The vertical axis "spurious response" graph is not labelled, except as "dB", which we can assume represents a power ratio.  But by what conceptual chicanery can a power ratio be seen as a characteristic of a crystal ?  Unless this is explained the graph is meaningless.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.96.59.93 (talk) 10:08, 18 January 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  What is this a Graph of ? 

message: A long list of general references for papers by Poddar and Rohde have just been added by user:Drakpoddar who would seem to be connected judging by the user name.  Do we really need all of these?  It smacks of promoting ones own stuff to me. SpinningSpark 00:36, 1 March 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Absolutely. This is strongly discouraged in WP:Further reading.  In addition to COI issues, most should be removed just on the issue of balance: "Further reading" should offer a range of different sources.  In addition they look like the subject matter is somewhat redundant. --ChetvornoTALK 01:02, 1 March 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Any view on which ones we should keep? SpinningSpark 00:44, 2 March 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Take your pick.  I tend to think only one of them at most should be kept, there are plenty of other good sources.  The multiple titles are basically BOOKSPAM.  That was a good catch.  --ChetvornoTALK 01:55, 2 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Further reading 

message: Hey, as a Precision Devices, Inc employee, I recognize the crystals in the images. Perhaps this is relevant information.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.13.246.85 (talk) 04:31, 8 March 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't think so. Numerous manufacturers make crystals in the standard HC49/S package. There is nothing useful to be gained for the reader by promoting the Precision Devices product which is entirely unremarkable against competitors.  Also, to make that statement would require a reliable source saying that they are Precision Devices product.  There is no marking (other than the frequency) on either of the HC49/Ss in the lede photos identifying the brand so we are not going to say that even if it was worth saying.  The crystal oscillator in the second picture does seem to have a brand name.  I cannot read it very well, but it does not seem to be Precision Devices. SpinningSpark 15:55, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Crystal Brand 

message: Note that polycrystalline is still crystalline, so that doesn't disqualify it. But yes, the usual high-Q oscillators are, single crystal. As far as I know, there are no amorphous quartz oscillators. Gah4 (talk) 17:32, 10 August 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: There are amorphous ceramic resonators, although I can't think of amorphous quartz ones.  Andy Dingley (talk) 17:34, 10 August 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: But are they piezoelectric?   I would think you would need atoms arranged in a crystal lattice to have piezoelectricity.  Polycrystalline ceramic resonators have their crystal grains aligned during manufacture to give them piezoelectric properties.  In an amorphous material, without a crystal lattice I don't see how you could have piezoelectricity. --ChetvornoTALK 23:40, 25 August 2015 (UTC)
replies: text:  They don't need to be. The transducer can be deposited as a separate surface layer. Andy Dingley (talk) 00:36, 26 August 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Crystalline or not? 

message: >> With accuracies of up to 1 sec in 30 years (30 ms/year or 10−7)
One second in 30 years makes 10^-9 - a hundred time better accuracy. 
10^-7 (3 seconds per year) seems to better reflect early quartz oscillators accuracy.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.205.153.50 (talk) 19:45, 8 August 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  1s/30 year = 10^-7 ? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Not so long ago, I started a discussion in the assembly language article on the possibility of splitting off a separate article on assemblers (the programs that process assembly language programs).  More specifically, the abstract language, and the actual implementation of language processors. As far as I know, it hasn't been done yet, but the discussion about crystal vs. crystal oscillator seems similar.  There is a fair amount of art to writing assemblers, such as hash tables for symbols, multiple passes to resolve backward references, and such. All of which are independent from the abstract language.  It might be that there is enough here to write about crystal oscillator circuit implementations, separate from the crystals themselves. I suspect not, but then I haven't tried. There is a whole Theory of Oscillators which might help in such a page.  (I have the book, but haven't finished it.) Gah4 (talk) 05:42, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  assemblers