Clock generator

A clock generator is an electronic circuit or device that produces periodic timing signals. Digital systems use these signals to coordinate operations and data transfers.

Crystal oscillator: An electronic oscillator that uses a vibrating quartz crystal to establish a stable frequency. Quartz crystals provide stable reference frequencies for many clock generators.
Clock signal: A periodic electrical signal used to coordinate operations in synchronous digital circuits. A clock generator produces this signal as its fundamental output.
Central processing unit: The computer component that executes instructions and controls many operations through its internal datapaths. Processor clock generators establish timing for instruction execution and internal transfers.
Ring oscillator: An oscillator made from an odd number of delay stages connected in a loop. It can generate a clock without a crystal, but its frequency is more sensitive to process, voltage, and temperature.
Dynamic voltage and frequency scaling: A power-management technique that adjusts a processor’s supply voltage and clock frequency during operation. Changing generator settings lets processors trade performance for lower energy consumption.
Phase-locked loop: A feedback system that adjusts an oscillator to track the phase and frequency of a reference signal. Clock generators use phase-locked loops to synthesize output frequencies from reference clocks.
Frequency: The number of repetitions of a periodic event per unit time. A generator’s output frequency sets the pace of synchronous operations.
Graphics processing unit: A processor designed to accelerate parallel computations, especially graphics and other data-intensive workloads. GPU timing circuits supply clocks to processing and memory domains.
Relaxation oscillator: An oscillator that repeatedly charges and discharges a component to produce a periodic waveform. It offers simple clock generation but generally lacks the stability of crystal-based designs.
Clock gating: A power-saving technique that disables clock signals to inactive circuit blocks. Clock distribution consumes dynamic power, so generated clocks are stopped where activity is unnecessary.

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Voltage-controlled oscillatorRelated: VCO-based circuits can generate adjustable clocks and recover timing.