What is the difference between TCXO and crystal oscillator?

 

Clock signal is the heart of digital embedded systems. An improper clock can fail the complete embedded product. Choosing the right clock oscillator for a given scenario is important as there are several oscillator types are available. Clock oscillators we use are of quartz type and have moderate stability. These are low cost and are sufficient for applications like MCU where stability is not a critical requirement. There are other types of oscillators like TCXO, OCXO, VCXO, VCTCXO. Based on the precise clock requirements of an application, these are preferred over a normal crystal oscillator. TCXO stands for Temperature controlled Crystal Oscillator and is used to get precise clock output.The major advantage of TCXO is robust performance against drift in temperature. If we see any RF systems, TCXO is used as the clock source.