Industry White Paper
Learn More About VCOs From Design to Verification
Discover the essentials of Voltage Controlled Oscillators (VCOs) and learn crucial measurement techniques for reliable electronic and RF applications.

White Paper Overview
Voltage controlled oscillators (VCO) are oscillators whose output frequency is controlled by means of an external tuning voltage, and they are used in a wide variety of electronic and RF applications. Different VCO design approaches yield different parameters and performance, and therefore it is important to measure or characterize VCOs under different voltage and load conditions. Accurate VCO characterization enables engineers to design more reliable and robust systems.
This white paper provides a short technical introduction to voltage controlled oscillators and explains the most common and the most important measurements made during the VCO characterization process.