ceramic resonator

Hi,
I recently bought a grab bag of components at a local electronics store that contained dozens of resonators. How do they work and how can I use them? Any help needed.
Thanks in advance,
jared

If they have two leads, they are used just like crystals, with two feedback capacitors. If they have three leads, the feedback capacitors are included in the package. The central lead should be grounded.

If they have two leads, they are used just like crystals, with two feedback capacitors. If they have three leads, the feedback capacitors are included in the package. The central lead should be grounded.

They have 3 leads, but still, how would i use them? Also, how would i use a crystal?

Try Google. It's all standard design stuff.

Try Google. It's all standard design stuff.

I looked on Google and could not find anything that was really helpful. Good idea though.

https://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=crystal+oscillator+load+capacitance&oq=crystal+oscillator&gs_l=igoogle.1.5.0l10.2327.16097.0.27452.28.12.6.10.15.0.183.1249.6j6.12.0...0.0.UcyedZr4Byw

Thank you Leon Heller, I guess i was just not typing in the right keywords in the search bar.

Ceramic resonators and quartz crystals are piezo-electric - an applied electric field causes a change in physical dimension - this means that electrical oscillations applied to the ends of a crystal cause a mechanical oscillation. With quartz the highly ordered single crystal has an extremely precise mechanical (and thus electrical) resonance. With other ceramics (I think they are polycrystalline and ferro-electric) the resonance is much less precise and much much more temperature dependent. Quartz resonators can easily achieve +/-20ppm accuracy, ceramic are rated at +/-5000ppm or so.

The ceramic material of a ceramic resonator makes a good dielectric I suspect for the loading capacitors so those are probably built-in to the structure (I am guessing about this).

Quartz crystal devices are accurately cut and polished, mounted in a vacuum chamber for maximum Q-factor and minimum aging from contaminants. I suspect no such care is taken (or worth taking) with ceramic resonators.

Still they work. I used thousands of them in the late 90's as both IF filters and as clocks for Pic's (400 Khz) they were from Panasonic and Most accurate for a $.30 part

Doc

Thank you for the information,
Jared

MarkT... no the devices are laser trimmed in the Fab process. The real issues come about from the drive applied (Feedback/heating or lack of thereof...) to the resonator and the limited thermal stability compared to an XY cut crystal.

Doc