Crystal Oscillator - Circuit Notations and Abbreviations

Circuit Notations and Abbreviations

On electrical schematic diagrams, crystals are designated with the class letter Y (Y1, Y2, etc.) Oscillators, whether they are crystal oscillators or other, are designated with the class letter G (G1, G2, etc.) (See IEEE Std 315-1975, or ANSI Y32.2-1975.) On occasion, one may see a crystal designated on a schematic with X or XTAL, or a crystal oscillator with XO, but these forms are deprecated.

Crystal oscillator types and their abbreviations:

• ATCXO — Analog temperature controlled crystal oscillator
• CDXO — Calibrated dual crystal oscillator
• DTCXO — Digital temperature compensated crystal oscillator
• EMXO — Evacuated miniature crystal oscillator
• GPSDO — Global positioning system disciplined oscillator
• MCXO — Microcomputer-compensated crystal oscillator
• OCVCXO — oven-controlled voltage-controlled crystal oscillator
• OCXO — Oven-controlled crystal oscillator
• RbXO — Rubidium crystal oscillators (RbXO), a crystal oscillator (can be an MCXO) synchronized with a built-in rubidium standard which is run only occasionally to save power
• TCVCXO — Temperature-compensated voltage-controlled crystal oscillator
• TCXO — Temperature-compensated crystal oscillator
• TMXO – Tactical miniature crystal oscillator
• TSXO — Temperature-sensing crystal oscillator, an adaptation of the TCXO
• VCTCXO — Voltage-controlled temperature-compensated crystal oscillator
• VCXO — Voltage-controlled crystal oscillator