LC Oscillator Basics

Oscillators are electronic circuits that generate a continuous periodic waveform at a

precise frequency

Oscillators convert a DC input (the supply voltage) into an AC output (the

waveform). This output waveform can have a wide range of different shapes
and frequencies, and can be either complex in shape, or be a simple pure
sine wave depending upon the application.
Oscillators are used in many pieces of test equipment producing either
sinusoidal sine waves, square, sawtooth or triangular shaped waveforms or
just a train of repetative pulses of a variable or constant width. LC
Oscillators are commonly used in radio-frequency circuits because of their
good phase noise characteristics and their ease of implementation.
An Oscillator is basically an Amplifier with “Positive Feedback”, or
regenerative feedback (in-phase) and one of the many problems in electronic
circuit design is stopping amplifiers from oscillating while trying to get
oscillators to oscillate.
Oscillators work because they overcome the losses of their feedback
resonator circuit either in the form of a capacitor, inductor or both in the same
circuit by applying DC energy at the required frequency into this resonator
circuit. In other words, an oscillator is a an amplifier which uses positive
feedback that generates an output frequency without the use of an externally
applied input signal.
Thus Oscillators are self-sustaining circuits generating an periodic output
waveform at a single sinusoidal frequency. Thus for any electronic circuit to
operate as an oscillator, it must contain the following three characteristics.
 Some form of Amplification
 Positive Feedback (regeneration)
 A Frequency determine feedback network
An oscillator has a small signal feedback amplifier with an open-loop gain
equal to or slightly greater than one for oscillations to start but to continue
oscillations the average loop gain must return to unity. In addition to these
reactive components, an amplifying device such as an Operational Amplifier
or Bipolar Transistor is required.
Where: β is a feedback fraction.
Unlike an amplifier there is no external AC input signal required to cause the
Oscillator to work, as the DC supply energy is converted by the oscillator into
AC energy at the required frequency.

Oscillator Gain Without Feedback

Oscillator Gain With Feedback

Then Oscillators are electric circuits that generate a continuous voltage
output waveform at a required single frequency. Inductors, capacitors or
resistors are used to form a frequency selective resonant circuit, which is
basically a passive band-pass filter that allows the desired frequency to pass,
and a feedback network.
The feedback network “feeds” a small percentage of the output signal back to
the input side in order to keep the circuit oscillating. The amount of positive
feedback used must be large enough to overcome any circuit losses so that
oscillations can be sustained indefinitely.
The feedback network is basically an attenuation circuit that has a voltage
gain of less than one ( β <1 ). Oscillations start when Aβ >1 and then returns
to unity ( Aβ =1 ) once oscillations are sustained.
The LC oscillators frequency is controlled using a tuned or resonant
inductive/capacitive (LC) circuit with the resulting output frequency being
known as the Oscillation Frequency. By making the oscillators feedback a
reactive network the phase angle of the feedback will vary as a function of
frequency and this is called Phase-shift.
There are basically types of Oscillators
 1. 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.
 2. 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 “Sawtoothed-wave” type waveforms.

Oscillator Resonance
When a constant voltage but of varying frequency is applied to a circuit
consisting of an inductor, capacitor and resistor the reactance of both the
Capacitor/Resistor and Inductor/Resistor circuits is to change both the
amplitude and the phase of the output signal as compared to the input signal
due to the reactance of the components used.
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, leaving only the resistance of the circuit to oppose the flow of
current. This means that there is no phase shift as the current is in phase with
the voltage. Consider the circuit below.

Basic LC Oscillator Tank Circuit

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

stores energy in the form of an electrostatic field and which produces a
potential (static voltage) across its plates, while the inductive coil stores its
energy in the form of an electromagnetic field. The capacitor is charged up to
the DC supply voltage, V by putting the switch in position A. When the
capacitor is fully charged the switch changes to position B.
The charged capacitor is now connected in parallel across the inductive coil
so the capacitor begins to discharge itself through the coil. The voltage
across C starts falling as the current through the coil begins to rise.
This rising current sets up an electromagnetic field around the coil which
resists this flow of current. When the capacitor, C is completely discharged the
energy that was originally stored in the capacitor, C as an electrostatic field is
now stored in the inductive coil, L as an electromagnetic field around the coils
windings.
As there is now no external voltage in the circuit to maintain the current within
the coil, it starts to fall as the electromagnetic field begins to collapse. A back
emf is induced in the coil (e = -Ldi/dt) keeping the current flowing in the
original direction.
This current charges up capacitor, C with the opposite polarity to its original
charge. C continues to charge up until the current reduces to zero and the
electromagnetic field of the coil has collapsed completely.
The energy originally introduced into the circuit through the switch, has been
returned to the capacitor which again has an electrostatic voltage potential
across it, although it is now of the opposite polarity. The capacitor now starts
to discharge again back through the coil and the whole process is repeated.
The polarity of the voltage changes as the energy is passed back and forth
between the capacitor and inductor producing an AC type sinusoidal voltage
and current waveform.
This process then forms the basis of an LC oscillator’s 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 if it was not for
energy losses within the circuit. Electrical energy is lost in the DC or 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.
The oscillations are then said to be “damped” with the amount of damping
being determined by the quality or Q-factor of the circuit.

Damped Oscillations

The frequency of the oscillatory voltage depends upon the value of the
inductance and capacitance in the LC tank circuit. We now know that
for resonance to occur in the tank circuit, there must be a frequency point
were the value of XC, the capacitive reactance is the same as the value of XL,
the inductive reactance ( XL = XC ) and which will therefore cancel out each
other out leaving only the DC resistance in the circuit to oppose the flow of
current.
If we now place the curve for inductive reactance of the inductor on top of the
curve for capacitive reactance of the capacitor so that both curves are on the
same frequency axes, the point of intersection will give us the resonance
frequency point, ( ƒr or ωr ) as shown below.
Resonance Frequency

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:
 Then by simplifying the above equation we get the final equation
for Resonant Frequency, ƒr in a tuned LC circuit as:

Resonant Frequency of a LC 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”.
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. However, if the loop gain of the
feedback amplifier is too small, the desired oscillation decays to zero and if it
is too large, the waveform becomes distorted.
To produce a constant oscillation, the level of the energy fed back to
the LC network must be accurately controlled. Then there must be some form
of automatic amplitude or gain control when the amplitude tries to vary from a
reference voltage either up or down.
To maintain a stable oscillation the overall gain of the circuit must be equal to
one or unity. Any less and the oscillations will not start or die away to zero,
any more the oscillations will occur but the amplitude will become clipped by
the supply rails causing distortion. Consider the circuit below.