Today’s market world is dominated by electronic gadgets. But what makes these gadgets tick accurately is the timing components. The three major timing components are resonators, oscillators and clock generators. The mother board is the primary circuit board that houses these components. So, for the mother board circuits to work in tandem, timing components must work in unison.

1. Timing Components of Mother Board
Today’s market world is dominated by electronic gadgets. But what makes these gadgets tick accurately is the
timing components. The three major timing components are resonators, oscillators and clock generators. The
mother board is the primary circuit board that houses these components. So, for the mother board circuits to work
in tandem, timing components must work in unison.
According to Wikipedia,
“A clock generator is a circuit that produces a timing signal for use in synchronizing a circuit's operation.”
“A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behaviour, that is, it naturally oscillates at
some frequencies, called its resonant frequencies, with greater amplitude than at others.”
“An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a repetitive electronic signal, often a sine wave or a
square wave. They are widely used in innumerable electronic devices.”
The main purpose of crystal oscillator and resonator in an electronic system is to generate a timing signal that
is used by other electronic devices. An oscillation with a certain frequency is generated when the resonator is
excited. The oscillator is usually made of natural crystal and vibrates at a certain frequency, although recently,
newer, silicon MEMS based devices are getting traction in the marketplace. The oscillator also contains an
amplifier circuit that is used to excite the resonator and generate a clock signal.
A crystal resonator (also known as a “crystal”) is made of single-crystal quartz and has natural piezoelectric
properties. Depending on how it is cut, the resonator exhibits different frequencies and characteristics.
Clock generators are all silicon circuits that usually require a reference clock that can come from a crystal,
an oscillator or a MEMS resonator. They are offered in differential, LVCMOS, and mixed outputs. They may be
provided with independent operating voltages for each of the PLLs and its associated outputs, thereby eliminating
external level translators and reducing overall system cost. Some of them support frequencies of up to 800 MHz
with stability as good as ± 10 PPM and accuracy up to 5 decimal places.
Traditionally, semiconductor companies manufacture clock generators, while the crystal companies manufacture
oscillators and resonators. Vertically integrated companies that manufacture all three kinds of timing components
allow their customers to consolidate their supply-chain, reducing cost of ownership and time to market.
Top semiconductor companies offer great service value for buyers by providing the following benefits.
● Shortest lead time delivery (3-5 weeks for volumes)
● Able to meet demand upsides
● Able to reduce cost of ownership
● Provision to buy smaller packages
● Provides no costly or time-consuming design changes that need further support
By choosing the right semiconductor vendor to purchase these timing components, companies can expect to create
quality mother boards, and eventually aim at producing quality electronic gadgets.
Learn more about :- Differential Oscillator , MEMS Oscillator & Voltage Controlled Oscillators ,