RF engineers are always trying to improve the performance of the systems they work on, but a perfect, 100% stable signal that never deviates from the intended frequency will probably never be attainable. The toll that the physical environment and time will take on a crystal remains a fact of life.
But that doesn’t stop us from always working towards getting as close to possible to that ideal. The effects of the physical environment and time can both be mitigated by selecting a high-quality quartz crystal oscillator. Picking the right one for the job depends on the application and other factors, like the amount of power available.
In this article, we will make the case that for those who are trying to minimize the effects of aging and improve stability without using a lot of power, a temperature compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO) might be the right solution.