Hello all,

I'm working on a 150 kHz Colpitts oscillator. I have an oscillation at the frequency I desire but the negative portion of my sine wave is clipped and distorted. Getting a perfect sine wave isn't really necessary for this application as I intend to use it as a noise source, but, my perfectionist side won't let me get away with saying the heck with it. I've attached a schematic of the circuit but the tank circuit values aren't accurate with what I have on the perf board (L = 6.8 uH, C = 330 nF each). I don't need more than 100 mV on the output. I tried adding some resistance to the emitter which gave me a better signal but significantly reduced the amplitude. I also attached a screenshot of the waveform. Any thoughts on how I clean up the waveform?

 

Hello,

Most colpitts circuits that I know have the output on the collector.
Colpits oscillator pictures

Bertus

 

This is a design I found on the internet. I have found that I get a better signal on the emitter than the collector. Granted it is at a much smaller amplitude, but the smaller amplitude is what I need for my particular application.

 

Hello,

Have a look at the following circuit:



It has a fully decoupled collector.

Bertus

 

Ok, so I should put a decoupling cap on the collector. I also noticed the biasing resistors are of different values. That is where I'm struggling to comprehend the math and concept. This is an emitter follower topology right?

 

Probably too much gain (of the transistor) at the desired frequency. IIRC, a resistor from the emitter to C7-C8 junction will lower the amount of positive feedback.

 

Probably too much gain (of the transistor) at the desired frequency. IIRC, a resistor from the emitter to C7-C8 junction will lower the amount of positive feedback.

Ok, I'll give that a try. Thanks.