Lecture 32 LC Oscillators Objectives: At the end of this lecture you should be able to: (a) (b) Understand and

Design Colpitts Oscillator Understand and Design a Hartley Oscillator

Op amp based RC oscillators are suitable for low frequency (less than 100KHz) applications. For higher frequency application, however, oscillators can be developed based on transistors and LC tuned circuits or crystals. The main disadvantage of LC oscillators is the difficulty to tune the frequency of oscillation. You will see that crystal oscillators generate a single tune signal. The most commonly used LC tuned oscillators are the Colpitts oscillator and Hartley oscillator, after their inventors. The basic circuits without biasing details of these oscillators are shown in Fig. 1. The required feedback is achieved by capacitive divider in the Colpitts oscillator and by an inductive divider in the Hartley oscillator.

Fig. 1: (a) Colpitts oscillator (b) Hartley oscillator In both circuits, the losses of the inductors, the load resistance, and the output resistance of the transistor are modeled by the resistor R. In this lecture, we will concentrate on analyzing the Colpitts oscillator. Assuming the frequency of oscillation will be low in such a way we can neglect the internal capacitances of the transistor.

The small signal equivalent of the Colpitts oscillator is developed as shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2: Signal equivalent of the Colpitts oscillator (Add r, change voltage variables to small) * Applying nodal analysis, KCL at the collector of the transistor gives: Change variables to small: KCL at Vc:

vc sC1 +

vc v v + g m vb + c b = 0 R sL

vc s 2C1 LR + vc sL + sLg m Rvb + Rvc Rvb = 0

vc [ s 2C1 LR + sL + R] + vb [ sLg mb R R ] = 0 KCL at Vb:

vb sC2 + vb vb vc + =0 r sL

(1)

(1)

vb s 2C2 Lr + vb sL + r vb r vC = 0
vb = r vc s C2 Lr + sL + r
2

(2)

(2)

Substitute (2) in (1) yields:

s 2C1 LR + sL + R + r [ sLg m R R] = 0 s C2 Lr + sL + r
2

[ s 2C1 LR + sL + R][ s 2C2 Lr + sL + r ] + r [ sLg m R R ] = 0 s 4C1C2 L2 Rr + s 3C1 L2 R + s 2C1 LRr + s 3C2 L2 r + s 2 L2 + sLr + s 2C2 LRr + sLR + sLg m Rr = 0

The terms Rr will cancel. Substituting s=jo for physical frequency of oscillation and solving: Real =0; O 4C1C2 L2 Rr O 2C1 LRr O 2 L2 O 2C2 LRr = 0
O 2C1C2 L2 Rr = C1 LRr + L2 + C2 LRr

2
O

C1 LRr + L2 + C2 LRr O 2 = C1C2 L2 Rr

C1 LR +

L2 + C2 LR r C1C2 L2 R

With r (If MOSFET is used instead of BJT)

2
O

C1 LR + C2 LR C1 + C2 1 = = 2 C1C2 L R C1C2 L (C1 C2 ) L

(3) (3)

Frequency of oscillation: = O =

1 (C1 C2 ) L

Imaginary=0; jo3C1 L2 R jo 3C2 L2 r + jo Lr + jo LR + jo Lg m Rr = 0 Dividing by jo L :

o 2C1 LR o 2C2 Lr + r + R + g m Rr = 0

Dividing by r :
o 2C1 LR R o 2C2 L + 1 + + g m R = 0 r r As r o 2C2 L + 1 + g m R = 0

(4)

(4)

Substitute (3) in (4):

C1 + C2 C2 L + 1 + g m R = 0 C1C2 L

C2 + 1 + gm R = 0 C1

To ensure that oscillation will start:

gm R C2 Condition of oscillation C1

For Hartley oscillator, following same procedure you will get the frequency of oscillation to be:
O =

1 ( L1 + L2 )C

A complete Colpitts oscillator circuit is shown in Fig. 3. The radio-frequency choke (RFC) is used to provide a high reactance (ideally open circuit) at frequency of oscillation.

Fig. 3: Colpitts oscillator with the biasing circuit

Colpitts oscillator and Hartley oscillator can be built based on MOSFET as shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, respectively.

Fig. 4: MOSFET based Colpitts oscillator: (a) Basic circuit (b) Small signal model

Fig. 5: MOSFET based Hartley oscillator: (a) Basic circuit (b) Small signal model neglecting internal capacitors Example 1: Analyze the MOSFET based Hartley oscillator shown in Fig. 5(b) to find the frequency and condition of oscillation. KCL at Vs:
vs vs vs + + g m vgs = 0 ro sL1 sL2 + 1/ sC

But vgs=vg-vs
vs vs v sC + + 2 s g m vg + g m vs = 0 ro sL1 s CL2 + 1

Multiply by ( s 2CL2 + 1) sL1ro gives

vs [ sL1 ( s 2CL2 + 1) + ( s 2CL2 + 1)ro + s 2CL1ro + g m sL1 ( s 2CL2 + 1)ro ] g m vg sL1 ( s 2CL2 + 1)ro = 0 (1)

By VDR:
vg = vs 1/ sC vs = 1/ sC + sL2 1 + s 2CL2 (2)

Substituting (2) in (1) yields: vs [ s 3CL1 L2 + sL1 + s 2CL2 ro + ro + s 2CL1ro + g m ro s 3CL1 L2 + g m ro sL1 g m ro sL1 ] = 0 Since vs 0 , substituting s=jo for physical frequency of oscillation and solving: Real =0; O 2CL2 ro + ro O 2CL1ro = 0 O = 1 ( L1 + L2 )C (3) (i.e. Frequency of oscillation)

Imaginary=0; jo 3CL1 L2 jo 3CL1 L2 g m ro + jo L1 = 0 Dividing by jo L : o 2CL2 o 2CL2 g m ro + 1 = 0 o 2CL2 (1 + g m ro ) = 1 Substitute (3) in (4) yields (4) (4)

CL2 + g mCL2 ro = CL1 + CL2

g m ro = L1 L2

To ensure that oscillation will start: g m ro L1 (i.e. condition of oscillation) L2

Example 2: This example demonstrates that if you are allowed to use inductors then designing op amp based oscillators becomes a simple task. Inductors are not recommended in electronics circuit for several reasons: their size, difficult to implement in integrated circuits (ICs), and have low quality factors. Consider, for example, the RLC network shown in Fig. 6. Develop a sinusoidal oscillator around this circuit using a single op amp and any number of resistors. Draw a complete circuit of your design. Select your components to realize frequency of oscillation of 10kHz.

Fig. 6: RLC circuit of Example 2 The circuit of Fig. 6 is a bandpass filter at resonance frequency the capacitive and inductive reactance will cancel and the network becomes pure resistive. Hence at this O/P R 1 = = . If this loss is compensated by gain of 2 and the loop is frequency I /P R+R 2 closed as shown in Fig. 7, a sinusoidal oscillator will be developed with frequency of 1 . oscillation equal to the resonance frequency o = LC

Fig. 7: RLC op amp based oscillator For frequency of oscillation of 10KHz, select C=1nF and find L.

L(109 ) L = 0.25H 0.25H. This is an impractical value.

o =

1 2 104 = LC

Again select C=1F, results in L=0.25mH which is accepted.