Re:It's Hard to Build an Oscillator
by the__alchemist on Friday November 21, 2025 @10:28AM
(#46005424)
Hah! As an IC baby, I assumed it would be about what goes on inside crystal oscillators, TCXOs, MEMS oscillators, the difference between the one that you add 2 caps to with in and out vs the ones that don't need In and use a single bypass cap.
Inductors (the L of LC) are large and expensive except at very high frequencies. So audio circuits are normally designed with just resistors and capacitors.
And you always need an active component like a transistor. A pure LC can oscillate for hundreds of cycles but not indefinitely.
I get the impression that there was some requirement to use transistors that I was missing. The article briefly mentions some kind of inductor as a rare component.