crystal oscillators

[jnuaury]

Ahoy

are crystals easy to use?
im assuming the two pin crystals receive a voltage in one pin and output their frequency from the other

im hoping these might generate some interesting heterodyning
also would these easily drive cmos 4000 chips?


id like to hear about (or hear!) any creative uses of crystals

[DrJustice]

Crystals can be very easy to use, but a two pin device like you mention does not constitute an oscillator. Such crystals are used as the resonating element in an oscillator circuit. The oscillator circuit is usually part of a larger chip, e.g. a microprocessor.

You also get complete 'crystal oscillators' which are usually parts with 4 pins, having a built in crystal and oscillator circuit. These are very easy to use, just connect power and ground to two pins and the clock signal comes out of a third pin. They can drive CMOS circuits fine and can be bought at most electronic component stores.

Read more about crystal oscillators here.

As for creative uses of crystals, I'm only familiar with oscillators and healing, except for Superman who has nifty crystal computers and stuff

DJ
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[jksuperstar]

Yeah what he said. But also, be aware that some crystal oscillators (4-pin) use the 4th pin as an enable, to turn the clock on or off.