Top 11 Clock Generators

It is not unknown that every aspect of human life is touched by electricity. The clock signals used for the synchronization of circuit operation have a broad range while its basic parts are a resonant circuit and an amplifier. Clock generators are extensively replacing the primal crystal oscillators because of their internal oscillators and wide tuning range. Like any generator and other electrical device, clock generators have a lot of features, each very important for its smooth functioning.

Achieving the desired stability.

Stability is the primary and the most imperative factor that the buyer needs to check before buying a clock generator because the circuits that they are used in are very high speed. To make sure that the generator is stable, the buyer needs to check the frequency bandwidth of the generator. Usually, clock generators with a fixed frequency of 25 to 27 MHz are used with a configurable frequency of 8 kHz to 120 kHz in the functional block diagram to achieve a glitchless frequency range.

Differential signalling and voltage

The voltage of the clock generator should not be very high to maintain the signal integrity among the digital components. The buyer must choose a generator of low voltage that can easily move high speed data from the data capture system. Usually, the core VDD of a clock generator is 2.5 or 3.5 volts while the VDD of output can be 1.8 volts, 2.5 volts, or 3.3 volts.

Other technical details to remember.

Some other qualities that a great generator can offer are flexibility and compatibility in running different clocks like synchronous clocks free-running clocks. The buyer should also see to it that the speed output of the generator has a configurable speed spectrum with a low output speed jitter and low power consumption. The final factor to be considered by the buyer is that the errors in frequency synthesis should be zero.