
MOTOROLA
2-14
PINS AND CONNECTIONS
M68HC11
REFERENCE MANUAL
Usually, the operation of the oscillator cannot be observed with an oscilloscope con-
nected to one of the oscillator pins. The oscilloscope adds from 3 to 30 pF and from 1
to 10 M
to V
SS
, which will usually affect oscillator operation. When the oscilloscope
is connected to the EXTAL input, the 10 M
to V
SS
(oscilloscope input) forms a resis-
tive divider with R
f
and often disables the oscillator by biasing the circuit out of the lin-
ear region of the EXTAL input. This problem can sometimes be overcome by
capacitively coupling the oscilloscope with a very small capacitor (1–5 pF) between
the oscilloscope probe and the oscillator pin. It is usually better to observe the E-clock
output from the MCU since this does not alter the operation of the oscillator.
In low-frequency designs, it is often possible to observe the XTAL node with an oscil-
loscope because the high-impedance nodes of the oscillator are isolated from XTAL
by R
S
. Observe I
DD
without the oscilloscope connected and again with the oscillo-
scope connected. If the I
DD
is unchanged, it is usually safe to assume the oscillator
was unaffected.
Low-frequency crystal circuits tend to be very high impedance. Thus, the PCB must
be clean, dry, and free of conductive material such as solder rosin and excessive mois-
ture from high humidity. If problems occur, the value of R
f
can be reduced so the con-
taminant impedance is less significant in comparison. Of course, it is still best to
eliminate the contaminants.
Usually, startup time is inversely proportional to the frequency; thus, low-frequency os-
cillators start slower than high-frequency oscillators. There are many exceptions to this
rule because there are many variables affecting startup time. Observation of a few cir-
cuits using the MC68HC11A8 with an 8-MHz crystal reveals startup from STOP takes
approximately two milliseconds, and startup from power-up occurs within a few milli-
seconds of when V
DD
reaches approximately one Volt. Power-up performance varies
greatly
since
power-source
turn-on
characteristics
MC68HC11A8 is a fully static design, the oscillator is not required to be running full
speed before the processor starts executing instructions (most applications do not re-
quire a stable oscillator within the first few milliseconds after power-up). If the oscillator
is not running at full speed, instructions will take longer to execute, but no unpredict-
able behavior will result as it would in an NMOS processor. An oscillator in the 32-kHz
range could require hundreds of milliseconds or even a few seconds to start and sta-
bilize.
vary
greatly.
Since
the
NOTE
The following tune-up procedure is only meaningful for crystal fre-
quencies below 1 MHz. In higher frequency applications, because R
S
is normally 0
, this procedure is not needed.
The value of R
S
can be determined experimentally by using the final PCB and an MCU
of the exact type that will be used in the final application. The MCU need not have the
final mask program because the MCU will be held in reset throughout the experiment.
Because of the number of variables involved, use components with the exact proper-
ties of those that will be used in production. For example, do not use a ceramic-pack-
aged MCU prototype for the experiment when a plastic-packaged MCU will be used in