Emitter coupled multivibrator circuit

摘要

An emitter-coupled multivibrator circuit including a pair of main transistors (Q1,Q2) having a positive feedback, in which the base of each transistor is connected to the collector of the other transistor. A capacitor (C) is connected between the emitters of the main transistors. The circuit further comprises pull-down transistors (Q3,Q4), cross-connected so that they are positively driven to alternate between a conducting and a non-conducting state according to the states of the main transistors. The frequency of the oscillator is adjusted by controlling the current (Icon) passing through the capacitor (C). Additionally, a compensating current (I2) is arranged to flow through the collector resistors (Rc1,Rc2) of the main transistors so that the total current passing through each resistor is essentially constant and independent of the control current (Icon). This way the signal amplitude of the oscillator is not affected by the frequency control.