200 kHz Arduino Clock Generator

Sep 18, 2020
abram

Someone contacted me recently about using an ATMega328 to generate a 200 kHz clock signal for a BBD analog delay chip. I finally had a few minutes today to sit down and ensure that this code works. Varying the OCR0A value acts as a frequency adjustment on the output following the formula: f = 16e6 / (4 * OCR0A) where OCR0A != 0. With a value of 0, the output frequency is roughly 8 MHz. It seemed fairly stable enough at this frequency, but I imagine that it would start having issues with more instructions. Either way, it makes for a very usable clock signal in the kHz range. I’ll try it out on a BBD hopefully one day myself and see.

// ===== 200 kHz Clock Signal Generator ==== //
int  pin = 6;
byte data = LOW;

void setup() {
  setupTimer();
  pinMode(pin, OUTPUT);
                 // f = 16e6 / (4 * OCR0A)
  OCR0A = 20;    // varies CLK frequency: 0 => 8 MHz, 255 => 16 kHz
  digitalWrite(pin,data);
}

void loop() {

}

void setupTimer() {
  cli(); 
 /*--- TIMER0 CONFIG ---*/  
  TCCR0A = 0b11000001;
  TCCR0B = 0b00001001;    // last 3 bits set prescalar for Timer0
  TIMSK0 = 0b00000010;    // set OCIE0A high
  TIFR0  = 0b00000010;    // set OCF0A high
  sei(); 
}

ISR(TIMER0_COMPA_vect) {
  data = !data;
  digitalWrite(pin, data);
}
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