Welcome to the Crystal Oscillator Professor

This blog is about the nuts and bolts of time and frequency control, and especially about the details of crystal oscillators, which are particularly fascinating devices. This blog will explore how timing systems using crystal oscillators work, and how to use, specify and troubleshoot crystal oscillators, as well as tracking and discussing the exciting new developments in the field.

The Professor Talks About the Importance of Timing in Advanced Embedded Systems

Ronald Stephens

March 27, 2025

Quartz is relatively abundant in nature and easy to grow in a very pure form. What sets it apart from other piezoelectric crystals is that it can be made to vibrate in very controlled and stable ways. Thus, a properly fashioned quartz resonator can act as an ultra-stable mechanical frequency source that can be coupled to an electronic oscillator circuit.

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The Importance of Crystal Mounting Structure

Ronald Stephens

September 19, 2024

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Phase Noise, Jitter and Allan Deviation – Comparisons and Distinctions

Ronald Stephens

July 22, 2024

Precision clocks need to maintain as pure a signal as possible, over very short periods of time. In the frequency domain, this is referred to as Phase Noise. In the time domain it is measured as Jitter.

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How are Oscillators Tested for Radiation?

Ronald Stephens

May 14, 2024

All of these space environments have unique radiation environments. There are no exact ways to duplicate the radiation exposure of each space environment, rather the best that can be done is to create analog radiation environments that can simulate the actual environments in space.

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