Debugging Methodology — question 10 of 10
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You're using a standard passive 10:1 probe with several pF of tip capacitance. The oscillator is a low-power crystal circuit designed to just barely sustain oscillation.
You're trying to characterize a crystal oscillator circuit's startup behavior. Every time you touch the crystal's oscillating node with your scope probe, the oscillator either fails to start or its frequency shifts noticeably; remove the probe and it behaves differently again, and you can't tell which behavior is the 'real' one. How do you figure out what the circuit actually does, and how would you get a trustworthy measurement?