CIRCUIT CELLAR OCTOBER 2014 #291 80

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ost modern digital and analog electronic
devices require a time base to perform their
intended function. Found in everything from cell
phones to smart munitions, quartz crystal oscillators
are widely used in many embedded applications.
Quartz resonators high Q, excellent temperature
performance, and superior long-term aging makes
them the clear resonator of choice for many
applications. The frequency versus temperature
performance of a discrete LC oscillator will be on the
order of several hundred parts per million (ppm) per
C, where a crystal oscillator (XO) will have roughly
30 ppm over the entire industrial temperature
range (40 to +85C). While being superior to a
discrete oscillator, this temperature stability is not
nearly sucient for many modern applications.
The temperature-compensated crystal oscillator
(TCXO) employs the use of an open loop compensation
circuit to create a correction voltage to reduce the
inherent frequency versus temperature characteristic
of the crystal. The crystals used in TCXOs have
frequency versus temperature characteristics that
approximate a third-order polynomial, as seen in the
nearby gure.
The early designs for TCXOs employed a network
of thermistors and resistors to create a correction
voltage. By using thermistors with dierent slopes
and properly selecting the xed value resistors, the
correction voltage can be made to have a shape factor
matched to the crystals frequency versus temperature
performance. The correction voltage is applied to a
varactor in the feedback path of the TCXO. This change
in capacitance in the feedback path alters the tuning
of the oscillator, thus changing the output frequency
and compensating it for temperature eects.
Thermistor/Resistor network TCXOs can achieve
frequency versus temperature stabilities of around 1
ppm over the industrial temperature range; however,
they are limited in their curve-tting capabilities
because of the nature of using discrete thermistors
and resistors. Thermistor/resistor network TCXOs
are still found in specialized environments including
satellite and other space applications where modern
solid-state devices do not have the radiation hardness
to survive. Most TCXOs manufactured today utilize an
ASIC which contains the oscillator circuit and a third-
or fth-order polynomial voltage generator. The
polynomial generator is an analog output voltage but
also has digital registers for setting the coecients
of the polynomial. The newest generations of TCXO
ASICs can provide temperature performances of 0.1
ppm over the industrial temperature range. This is
a 10-fold improvement over what is obtainable with
a traditional thermistor/resistor network TCXOs and
also has the advantage of a much smaller footprint
(5 mm 3.2 mm).
Some high-precision applications require
frequency versus temperature stabilities better than
0.1 ppm. To meet these challenging specications
a dierent methodology is implemented. An oven-
controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO) uses a heater
circuit and thermal insulation to keep the crystal
at an elevated temperature (15C above the
upper operating temperature limit). By controlling
the crystals temperature and keeping it nearly
constant, the frequency deviation due to ambient
temperature changes is vastly reduced. OCXOs can
achieve frequency versus temperature stabilities of
0.005 ppm. This improved performance comes at
the cost of a larger footprint and increased power
consumption. The TCXOs performance limit of 0.1
ppm is due to several factors. First, the resonators
are not perfect. Their frequency versus temperature
stability approximates a third-order polynomial;
however, higher order eects are present. Secondly,
the polynomial generator is nonideal and induces
some higher order artifacts, leaving the user with
residuals of 0.1 ppm. A new methodology which
uses an articial neural network (ANN) to create the
correction voltage has recently been demonstrated.
The ANN is superior in that the neural network is not
inherently shape limited like a third-order polynomial.
If enough data is presented to the ANN, it can learn
the crystals temperature performance shape and
correct for it. This new methodology has been shown
to provide 0.01 ppm frequency versus temperature
stability over the industrial range. The ANN algorithm
can achieve OCXO temperature performance in a
much smaller footprint, and without the need for the
power-hungry oven.
The evolution of quartz crystal time bases over
the last 70 years has seen the frequency versus
temperature stability improve by a factor of several
thousand. As our need for more stable oscillators in
smaller packages with less power consumption
grows, the development of better compensation
schemes is paramount. The ANN demonstrates a
technology that has much potential. Its ability to
adapt and change its shape factor makes it ideal for
complex compensation problems.
John Esterline is the CEO of
Esterline Research and Design, LLC,
(www.esterl ineresearch.com)
a Pennsylvania based start-up
company. John holds an MEngEE
and a BSEE from Pennsylvania
State University. His research
interests focus on temperature
compensation algorithms for the
improvement of embedded time
bases. John is the inventor on
two US patents (US8188800 B2,
US8525607 B2), and the inventor
of one patent pending (US
13/570,563). Esterline Research
and Design, LLC oers consulting
services in frequency control, test
and automation and other subject
matter in addition to its RF testing
products. You can contact him at
jesterline@esterlineresearch.com.
The Future of Temperature-
Compensated Crystal Oscillators
By John Esterline
AT cut frequency versus temperature characteristics
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