A Ceramic Resonator is an

electronic component An electronic component is any basic discrete device or physical entity in an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singular form and are no ...

consisting of a piece of a

piezoelectric Piezoelectricity (, ) is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied mechanical stress. The word '' ...

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, ...

material with two or more metal electrodes attached. When connected in an

electronic oscillator An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a periodic, oscillating electronic signal, often a sine wave or a square wave or a triangle wave. Oscillators convert direct current (DC) from a power supply to an alternating ...

circuit,

resonant Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscilla ...

mechanical vibrations in the device generate an oscillating signal of a specific

frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...

. Like the similar

quartz crystal Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

, they are used in

oscillator Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

s for purposes such as generating the

clock signal In electronics and especially synchronous digital circuits, a clock signal (historically also known as ''logic beat'') oscillates between a high and a low state and is used like a metronome to coordinate actions of digital circuits. A clock si ...

used to control timing in computers and other digital logic devices, or generating the carrier signal in analog radio transmitters and receivers. Ceramic resonators are made of high-stability

ceramics, generally

lead zirconate titanate Lead zirconate titanate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula (0≤''x''≤1), commonly abbreviated as PZT. Also called lead zirconium titanate, it is a ceramic perovskite material that shows a marked piezoelectric effect, meaning ...

(PZT) which functions as a mechanical

resonator A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a resonator ...

. In operation, mechanical vibrations induce an oscillating voltage in the attached electrodes due to the

piezoelectricity Piezoelectricity (, ) is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied mechanical stress. The word ' ...

of the material. The thickness of the ceramic substrate determines the

resonant frequency Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscilla ...

of the device.

Packages

A typical ceramic resonator package has either two or three connections. The two pin devices are typically just the resonators themselves, while three and sometimes four pin devices are filters, often used in AM and FM broadcast radios as well as many other RF applications. They come in both

surface-mount Surface-mount technology (SMT), originally called planar mounting, is a method in which the electrical components are mounted directly onto the surface of a printed circuit board (PCB). An electrical component mounted in this manner is referre ...

and

through-hole In electronics, through-hole technology (also spelled "thru-hole") is a manufacturing scheme in which leads on the components are inserted through holes drilled in printed circuit boards (PCB) and soldered to pads on the opposite side, either ...

varieties with a number of different footprints. The oscillation takes place across two of the pins (connections). The third pin (if present; typically the center pin) is connected to

ground Ground may refer to: Geology * Land, the surface of the Earth not covered by water * Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth Electricity * Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical c ...

Applications

Ceramic resonators can be used as the source of the

for

digital circuits Digital electronics is a field of electronics involving the study of digital signals and the engineering of devices that use or produce them. This is in contrast to analog electronics and analog signals. Digital electronic circuits are usual ...

such as

microprocessors A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...

where the frequency accuracy is not critical. Quartz has a 0.001% frequency tolerance, while PZT has a 0.5% tolerance. They are used in timing circuitry for a wide array of applications such as TVs, VCRs, automotive electronic devices, telephones, copiers, cameras, voice synthesizers, communication equipment, remote controls and toys. A ceramic resonator is often used in place of quartz crystals as a reference clock or

signal generator A signal generator is one of a class of electronic devices that generates electrical signals with set properties of amplitude, frequency, and wave shape. These generated signals are used as a stimulus for electronic measurements, typically used i ...

in electronic circuitry due to its low cost and smaller size. The lower Q and higher frequency range achievable can be beneficial in use of

TCXO A crystal oscillator is an electronic oscillator circuit that uses a piezoelectric crystal as a frequency-selective element. The oscillator frequency is often used to keep track of time, as in quartz wristwatches, to provide a stable clock ...

s, temperature-compensated crystal oscillators. The frequency of the oscillator can be "pulled" in wider range than with high-Q crystal. This allows wider range of adjustments, which may be critical in devices operating in extreme (especially low) temperatures where the crystal's own temperature-frequency dependence could take it outside of the pullable range for the desired frequency.

Ceramic filters

Ceramic resonators look similar to ceramic filters. Ceramic filters are frequently used in the IF stages of

superheterodyne A superheterodyne receiver, often shortened to superhet, is a type of radio receiver that uses frequency mixing to convert a received signal to a fixed intermediate frequency (IF) which can be more conveniently processed than the original carri ...

receivers. Originally ceramic filters were used as very low cost filters for broadcast radio receivers, both medium wave sets with typical IFs of 455 kHz and FM broadcast sets with IF stages at around 10.7 MHz. However, as the performance has significantly improved, they are used in many other RF applications as well.Quartz resonators and filters
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References

{{Electronic component Resonators

Packages

Applications

Ceramic filters

See also

References