I know that crystal oscillator is a type of oscillator. But why in colloquial terms crystal is different from oscillator and how they are physically different?
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I'm not sure what you mean by a colloquial term in this case? A crystal is a component used in a crystal oscillator but by themselves they won't oscillate (at least electrically). – PeterJ Dec 02 '13 at 09:43
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The crystal is one component of a crystal oscillator. The oscillator is basically an inverting amplifier with the crystal in the feedback path. The crystal's task is to let just one frequency pass through.
In a microcontroller the oscillator's amplifier is built in the IC, and the feedback path for the crystal is available at two pins: input and output.
In itself a crystal can't do anything. It's a passive component.
radagast
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