Basic differences between Clock and Oscillator

Simple packaged oscillators of moderate stability are referred as Crystal Clock Oscillators. These are available in 14 pin and 8 Pin Dual in Line Packages. The initial accuracy of the oscillator is the difference in the frequency between the actual output frequency of the oscillator and the specified frequency at 27 C at the time of manufacture. The simplest clock generation source is an oscillator, which generates a single output frequency for a single component. Oscillators (XOs) are often times used in asynchronous applications. XO selection should be based on the frequency, jitter and stability requirements of the end application. Both ceramic resonators and quartz crystals work on the same principle: the vibrate mechanically when an AC signal is applied to them. Quartz crystals are more accurate and temperature stable than ceramic resonators. Both Quartz Crystal and Ceramic resonator has two legs with no specific pin orientation that means you can solder/plug it into the circuit either way. Ceramic Resonator and Quartz Crystal are Passive devices, They are meant to generate clock signals but they alone can not generate Stable clock signal, both of them need some external circuitry around them to sustain oscillations. Like you must have seen the two PF capacitors around Quartz Crystals. On the other hand Clock Oscillators are Active devices and can generate clock independently without and external circuitry. Since most of the chips and Micro controllers (which require external clock) have clock stabilization circuitry inside them, so all you need to do is to plug in the Quartz Crystal or Resonator of appropriate value in the Two terminal and the Chip itself oscillates the Quartz Crystal or Resonator. The benefit is both Quartz Crystal and Resonator are very Cheap to buy and easily available, While clock oscillators are expensive and not easily available. When using clock Oscillator you need not to use OSC_OUT pin of the Microcontroller, we can directly feed the output of Clock Oscillator into the OSC_IN pin of the MCU Clock generated by clock Oscillator is much more stable than either of Quartz Crystal or Ceramic Resonator.