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This basic VCO/waveform generator IC circuit includes a voltage follower loop (formed with IC1) and
symmetry feedback loop (IC3) to eliminate an asymmetric duty cycle, which would cause distortion at low
frequencies.
This design describes a symmetry feedback loop that maximizes the linear sweep range of a voltagecontrolled oscillator (VCO).
The ICL8038 provides sine, square, and triangular waveforms simultaneously over a 1000:1 frequency range.
However, this range has been impossible to achieve without an asymmetric duty cycle and, therefore, higher
distortion at lower frequencies. The symmetry feedback loop maintains the duty cycle close to 50% over a
frequency sweep of greater than 1000:1, providing a sine wave with low distortion.
IC2, the ICL8038, forms the core of the circuit. The control voltage, fed into pin 8,
is buffered, and appears at pins 4 and 5 with little change:
The voltages across R2 and R3 control two current sources in such a way that capacitor C1 is charged
continuously by the current through R2 and discharged, through a switch, by twice the current through R3,
based on an internal flip-flop switched alternately when the voltage across C1 reaches one-third and twothirds of the supply voltage.
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