Why does a crystal oscillator only start oscillating after being heated

1、 Temperature compensation, some crystal oscillator devices consider the influence of temperature on oscillation frequency in their design and adopt temperature compensation circuits. These crystal oscillator devices may require some time to reach the set operating temperature during initial start-up in order to compensate for the impact of temperature changes on oscillation frequency. Therefore, the crystal oscillator may not start oscillating until it is heated to a sufficient temperature.

2、 Some crystal oscillator devices require a hot start process, which involves heating the crystal oscillator element to provide sufficient energy and excitation conditions to start oscillating. The hot start process usually requires a certain amount of time to ensure that the temperature of the crystal oscillator device is high enough to achieve the excitation conditions required for oscillation.

It should be noted that not all crystal oscillators require heating before they can start oscillating. This depends on the design and manufacturing process of the crystal oscillator, as well as the application environment. Some high-quality and highly stable crystal oscillators can work normally at room temperature. For those crystal oscillators that require heating, the starting temperature and heating time are usually clearly marked in the datasheet.

In practical applications, if encountering a crystal oscillator that requires heating to start oscillating, engineers usually follow the recommendations in the datasheet to perform appropriate preheating treatment on the crystal oscillator. This can ensure that the crystal oscillator achieves optimal performance during normal operation.

In summary, some crystal oscillators require heating before they can start oscillating, which is due to the unstable ion arrangement of quartz crystals at low temperatures. By heating, the ion arrangement inside the quartz crystal can be made more stable, thereby activating the piezoelectric effect and causing the crystal oscillator to oscillate normally. This phenomenon is a natural manifestation of crystal oscillator characteristics and temperature coefficient. For engineers, understanding this can help better apply crystal oscillators and ensure the normal operation of electronic devices.