
NXP Semiconductors
UM10301
User Manual for PCF85x3, PCF85x63, PCA8565, PCF2123, and
PCA21125
UM10301
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© NXP Semiconductors N.V. 2015. All rights reserved.
User manual
Rev. 2.1 — 23 July 2015
17 of 54
is indicated in Fig 7 as ∆f
off
. The largest influence on accuracy is a result of the
temperature dependence of the crystal.
7.1 Modes which don’t work
To keep time with an adequate accuracy it is necessary to use a quartz crystal and thus
the use of a quartz crystal is always assumed in this application note. A very low power
crystal oscillator as used in an RTC requires a different set of parameters compared to a
universal oscillator accepting crystals, RC- and LC networks or a ceramic resonator. The
oscillator circuit is not designed for operating with RC or LC networks neither for use with
a ceramic resonator. Ceramic resonators have a much shorter start up time than crystals,
about 100 times faster. However, they have lower frequency accuracy (initial tolerance,
temperature variations, drift) and since in an RTC accurate timekeeping is the goal,
ceramic resonators are not a good choice for an RTC. Use a crystal.
7.2 Effect of temperature
A tuning fork crystal is usually cut such that its frequency over temperature is a parabolic
curve centered around 25 °C, see Fig 7. This means that a tuning fork crystal oscillator
will resonate close to its target frequency at room temperature, but will slow down when
the temperature either increases or decreases from room temperature.
Fig 7.
The deviation in frequency vs. temperature of a typical 32.768 kHz crystal
The frequency of a typical crystal at a specific temperature T is given by:
(
)
[
]
2
0
0
1
T
T
B
f
f
−
+
=
Further f
0
can be considered to consist of two components as