Why it is necessary to enclose the crystal in a temperature controlled oven?
A crystal oven is a temperature-controlled chamber used to maintain the quartz crystal in electronic crystal oscillators at a constant temperature, in order to prevent changes in the frequency due to variations in ambient temperature.
What is TCXO and OCXO?
The oscillation frequency of a crystal changes as temperature varies. Design: A TCXO uses a compensation circuit to counter/compensate for the change in output frequency due to temperature variation. In an OCXO, the crystal oscillator is placed in an oven that is pre-heated to a higher temperature.
What is a OCXO oscillator?
OCXO actually stands for Oven Controlled Crystal (Xtal) Oscillator. OCXO are the top performing type of quartz crystal oscillator at the expense of power. Other types of quartz crystal oscillators include TCXO, VCXO, and just plain XOs. You can read more about all the different types of quartz crystal oscillators here.
What is crystal temperature?
The temperature at which crystals will appear in a brine solution of a given density as it cools. In preparing oilfield brines, the crystallization temperature can be used to indicate the maximum saturation (density) achievable for a brine solution at a given temperature.
What does an OCXO do to a quartz crystal?
An OCXO is a temperature-controlled device that maintains a quartz crystal’s constant operating temperature. This prevents changes in the specified frequency due to variations in ambient temperature.
Why does an OCXO have a constant temperature?
OCXOs work on the theory that if you heat the crystal beyond a temperature which it would normally encounter in the working environment, then the temperature of the crystal can be maintained at a constant level (normally around 158–176°F, or 70–80°C), thus resulting in a far greater degree of frequency stability.
What’s the difference between a TCXO and an OCXO?
Two popular versions are the temperature-compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO — “XO” is the old acronym for “crystal oscillator”) and oven-controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO).
When to use a temperature compensated crystal oscillator?
In most applications, a simpler TCXO or Temperature Compensated Crystal Oscillator can be used to reduce the negative effects of ambient temperature changes. But there are environments where a TCXO just can’t meet the stability requirements of the application.