A clock generator is used to produce a clock pulse. timing signals. Microprocessors and other integrated circuits use a clock to function. A clock generator is available as a single integrated circuit and is commonly used as the clock source for various electronic and processing systems. The clock generator is used to set a time or speed to which individual units synchronize. The process of synchronization is very important in complex processes and programs that use many devices.

Working of a clock generator: The clock generator is an electrical circuit with a resonant circuit and an amplifier. The resonator circuit is made up of a quartz piezo-electric oscillator. The amplifier circuit inverts a signal from the oscillator and some portion is led back into the oscillator so that the oscillation continues.

Types of clock generators: micro controller type with a crystal oscillator micro controller with resistor-capacitor pair Programmable: Different output levels can be programmed. Used in graphics, disk drives and clock synchronizing applications. Flexible type direct rambus clock generator: performs clock multiplication using PLL Multi-clock generator: can generate multiple systems clocks Clock generator with dual 1-to-4 buffers Dual PLL multi-clock generator

Applications: Clock generators are used in: PC and peripheral IC-personal computer line-powered 60 Hz clock generator programmable clock generator MIDI, digital TV applications 6 output PLL frequency generator IBIS simulation models, low-power synchronous voltage-to-frequency converter digital resampler mixed-signal microcontroller applications voice band audio processor fixed-point digital signal processors floating-point DSP USB streaming controller DSP multi-channel audio serial port dual-core processor clock generation and system reset management 133-MHz clock synthesizer/driver for PC motherboards large audio recording studios where a large amount of equipment needs to be synchronized to a master clock MIPS-based printer and consumer applications ultra-low power supply voltage generators