IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society Distinguished Lecturer Award: The Search for the Perfect Oscillator

Summary form only present. General approaches to oscillator design are reviewed and a discussion is presented of the parameters used to specify random and systematic frequency variations. Though the performance parameters of various types of oscillators may differ by many orders of magnitude, the underlying sources of frequency instabilities quite often have a common thread. All high Q oscillators exhibit fractional frequency instabilities at some magnitude (ranging from 10^-8 - 10¹⁵) and their ongins can be surprisingly similar when any particular resonator technology is pushed to its limits. The sources of instabilities in various oscillator components and their impact on frequency stability are discussed. Also, the impact of instabilities in the components used to transfer or distribute the output signal of a stable oscillator is considered. Performance characteristics (both observed and predicted) of a number of present and future oscillator technologies are reviewed.