A clock generator creates a continuous, stable square wave used to synchronize operations across a motherboard or integrated circuit. It usually pairs a quartz crystal oscillator with a phase-locked loop to multiply the base frequency into various clock rates needed by the CPU, memory, and bus interfaces.
Heard on the job
Swap out the crystal if the clock generator is failing to start up on power-on.
Also heard as
- clock synth
Related terms
Clock
A continuous square wave signal that synchronizes the timing of digital circuits.
Phase-locked loop
A control system that generates an output signal whose phase is related to the phase of an input signal.
Quartz crystal
A precisely cut piece of piezoelectric quartz used to generate a highly stable oscillating frequency.