Crystal Oscillator

The present invention relates to crystal oscillators for use in electronic equipment such as communication devices.

Turning now to FIGS. 8 and 9, there is shown a conventional crystal oscillator 90 comprises a casing or housing 51 having a recess 52. A vibrating plate 53 is housed within the recess 52. The right edge 54 of the plate 53 is fixed or mounted within the recess 52 to the housing 51 by means of conductive adhesive layers 55, 56. The vibrating plate is sandwiched between a pair of electrodes 57, 58. A right-side electrical terminal 59 and a left-side electrical terminal 60 are formed on the surfaces of the housing 51. The conductive layer 55 is used to electrically connect the upper electrode 57 to the right-side electrical terminal 59. The conductive layer 56 is used to electrically connect the lower electrode 58 to the left-side electrical terminal 60. An upper casing or plate 61 is bonded to the upper surface 62 of the lower housing 51 sealing the vibrating plate 53 mounted in the recess of said lower housing.

The dimensions of the conventional crystal oscillator 90 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 are small. As a result, extreme care must be used in mounting the vibrating plate 53 in an exact position within the recess 52. Unless extreme care is used in mounting the vibrating plate 53, the plate may be improperly attached to or misaligned in the lower housing 51, causing the vibrating plate 53 to contact the lower housing 51 or the upper plate 61 thereby, producing unstable or irregular oscillations of the vibrating plate 53.

The process of fabricating the conventional crystal oscillator 90 is further complicated by the plurality of bends required to form the right and left-side electrical terminals to provide continuous connections from the adhesive layers 55, 56 within the recess 52 to the external side surfaces of the lower housing 51.

According to the invention, a crystal oscillator is provided comprising a vibrating plate sandwiched between an upper and a lower casing. The vibrating plate includes a vibrating part surrounded by a rim with a fine slit in between the vibrating part and the rim except for a relatively narrow part that connects the vibrating part to the rim part.

The thicknesses of the vibrating part and the connecting part are thinner than the thickness of the rim part. Opposite surfaces of the vibrating part are provided with an electrode. An electrical lead extends from each surface electrode onto the connecting part.

Each of the casings has a recess facing the vibrating part and a through-hole positioned to face an electrical lead on the surface of the connecting part.

A cup-shaped metal lead is fabricated in each through-hole by depositing metal particles in the through-hole using a vacuum evaporation or a sputtering method. The bottom of the cup-shaped metal lead is fixed to the electrical lead facing the through-hole containing the metal lead to provide an electrical connection to the electrical lead on the connecting part.

Terminals are positioned at opposite ends of the crystal oscillator with each terminal being in electrical contact with a metal lead. Current can be provided to the surface electrodes of the vibrating part through the terminals to the metal leads.

Preferably, the crystal oscillator is formed by providing a first plate having a central portion, a peripheral portion having a rim surrounding the central portion at a distance therefrom, and a relatively narrow connecting portion connecting said central portion to said peripheral portion; forming a first electrode on a first surface of said central portion; forming an electrical lead on a first surface of said connecting portion and connecting said electrical lead to said first electrode; forming a second electrode on a second surface of said central portion opposite to said first surface; forming a second electrical lead on a second surface of said connecting portion and connecting said second electrical lead to said second surface electrode; forming a second plate with a recess for covering said second surface of said first plate and with a through-hole for facing said second electrical lead; forming a third plate with a recess for covering said first surface of said first plate and with a through-hole for facing said first electrical lead; mirror finishing a surface of said second plate on the same side as said recess in said second plate; mirror finishing said rim of said first plate on the same side as said second surface; covering said recess in said second plate with said second surface of said first plate; pressing said first plate to said second plate and applying heat thereto to bond the first and second plates together; adjusting the frequency of said central portion by trimming said central portion; mirror finishing a surface of said third plate on the same side as said recess in said third plate; mirror finishing said rim of said first plate on the same side as said first surface; covering said recess in said third plate with said first surface of said first plate; and pressing said third plate to said first plate and applying heat thereto to bond the first and third plates together; wherein the three plates are integrated together to form a crystal oscillator.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the crystal oscillator.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the upper casing, the vibrating plate and the lower casing of the crystal oscillator shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the vibrating plate shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of the crystal oscillator shown in FIG. 2 in the region of an assembled through-hole.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the crystal oscillator.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the upper casing, the vibrating plate, and the lower casing of the crystal oscillator shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a bottom view of the vibrating part shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional crystal oscillator.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the assembled conventional oscillator shown in FIG. 8.

Hereinafter, a crystal oscillator 100 of the present invention will be described by referring to FIGS. 1-7. In FIGS. 1-7, elements having the same function are identified with the same number.

Referring now to the drawings, a first embodiment of a crystal oscillator 100 of the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4 as having three plates, components, or sections 6, 8, 9 of a rectangular shape and a pair of terminals 25, 26. All three plates 6, 8, 9 are made from the same material, such as quartz crystal.

One of the plates is identified as a lower casing or housing 6 having a recess 7 and a through-hole 18.

The intermediate plate is a vibrating plate 8 having a rim part or peripheral portion 10, and a vibrating part or central portion 12. The peripheral portion 10 surrounds the central portion 12 and is spaced therefrom by a slit part 13 except for a narrow connecting portion 11 connecting the vibrating central portion 12 to the rim or peripheral portion 10 in a cantilever fashion within the rim part 10.

The third plate is an upper rectangular casing or housing 9. The upper rectangular plate 9 also has a recess (not shown), similar to the recess 7, and a through-hole 19.

The vibrating plate 8 is formed using an etching or sandblasting method. The width of the connecting portion 11 is made narrower than the width of the vibrating part or central portion 12 so that very little of the vibration generated by the vibrating part 12 is transmitted to the connecting part 11. Also, the thickness of the vibrating part 12 and the connecting part 11 are made less than the thickness of the rim part 10 by grinding, etching or sand-blasting off the surface of the vibrating and connecting parts.

The upper surface of the vibrating part 12 is provided with an upper electrode 14. The lower surface of the vibrating part is provided with a lower electrode 15. Both electrodes are provided with electrical leads 16, 17 extending from the electrodes 14, 15 on the vibrating part onto a surface of the connecting part 11 close to the rim part 10 of the vibrating plate 8. The electrodes 14, 15 and electrical leads 16, 17 are usually fabricated by a gold deposition method. The surfaces of the vibrating part 12 are ground sufficiently so that the thickness of the vibrating plate 12 and the upper and lower electrodes 14, 15 is less than the thickness of the rim part 10.

As described above, vibrating plate 8 comprises a rim part 10, a vibrating part 12 surrounded by a rim part 10 and a slit part 13 formed within rim part 10, and a relatively narrow connecting part 11 connecting vibrating part 12 to rim part 10. The vibrating plate 8 is made as one body by the same material. Therefore, the relative position of vibrating part 12 to rim part 10 is fixed, so that the possibility of contact of vibrating part 12 to rim part 10 can be avoided.

The recess 7 in the lower casing 6 provides a still larger distance between the vibrating part 12 and the lower casing. In a similar manner, the recess (not shown) in the upper casing 9 also separates the vibrating part 12 further from the upper casing 9.

The three plates 6, 8, 9 are mounted in tandem in a vertically abutting relationship with the upper plate 9 disposed on the vibrating plate 8, and this latter vibrating plate 8 disposed on the lower housing 6.

The process for stacking the three plates 6, 8, 9 is now described. First, adjacent surfaces of the vibrating plate 8 and the lower plate 6 are mirror finished. The rectangular vibrating plate 8 is placed on the lower plate 6, and is pressed against the lower plate while heat is applied thereto. Since both plates 6, 8 are made of quartz crystal, heating the two parts activates the atomic bonding to firmly integrate the surface of the lower plate 6 to the surface of the rim part 10.

Next, the oscillating frequency of the vibrating part 12 is calibrated. An electrical signal is placed across the upper and lower electrodes 14, 15. The signal is applied to the upper electrical lead 16 directly. The signal is applied to the lower electrode 15 through the lower through-hole 18 of the lower casing 6 to the lower electrical lead 17. The oscillating frequency is measured and is adjusted to the desired frequency by trimming the material of the vibrating part 12.

Next, the adjacent surfaces of the upper plate 9 and the rim part 10 are mirror finished. The upper plate 9 is stacked on the vibrating plate 8. Pressure and heat are applied and the plates 8, 9 are bonded together by the atomic bonding force acting between these two components.

The process described above sandwiches the vibrating plate 8 between the upper 9 and lower 6 plates and integrates the three plates together.

Two U-shaped right-side 25 and left-side 26 electrical terminals are then formed on the outer edge of the crystal oscillator as shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 4, each U-shaped terminal 25, 26 consists of a printed silver-paste layer 22, a nickel-plated layer 23, and a solder-plated layer 24.

Now the process for attaching the terminals 25, 26 to the integrated or assembled plates 6, 8, 9 and the process of filling the through-holes 18, 19 to provide electrical connections between the leads 16, 17 of the electrodes 14, 15 and the terminals 25, 26 is described.

Referring to FIG. 4, this figure shows an exploded cross-section of the region around the lower through-hole 18, including portions of the three plates 6, 8, 9.

The process for fabricating the electrical connection is as follows. Vacuum deposition or sputtering is used to evaporate metal particles on the inner wall of the through-hole 18 from the bottom to top in an upward direction. The metal particles deposited on the inner wall of hole 18 form a lower cup-shaped metal lead 30. The metal particles are deposited up to the surface of the electrical lead 17 of the electrode 15. As a result, the gap 20 between the lower plate 6 and the lower electrical lead 17 is filled with the metal particles evaporated on the inner wall of the hole 18. The lower through-hole 18 is sealed completely by the lower metal lead 30.

By way of example, the following details of construction of the electrical connection are provided in order to better define the structure of the electrical connection between the lead 17 and the terminal 25. Since the inner wall of the lower through-hole 18 is vertical, it is somewhat awkward to deposit metal particles on a vertical inner wall. This problem is lessened if a tapered through-hole is used. Specifically, the number of metal particles that can be deposited on the inner wall of a through-hole is increased if a tapered through-hole, such as shown in FIG. 4 is used. In such a case, with a gap 20 of 2000 .cndot., the thickness of the material filling the gap and extending into the through-hole 18 is about 6000 .cndot.. The thickness of the tapered metal layer deposited on the tapered wall of the through-hole 18 is about 2000 .cndot..

In order to ensure a reliable seal in the lower through-hole 18 by the lower metal lead 30, sealing glass 21 can be added to the metal lead 30. However, a reliable seal can also be ensured by adding silver-paste 22 into the lower metal lead 30 in place of the sealing glass 21. The use of silver-paste has the advantage of reducing the failure of the crystal oscillator by an electrical disconnection of the metal lead due to the difficulty of depositing metal particles on the inner wall of a through-hole.

The electrical connection between the lead 17 through the lower metal lead 30 to the terminal 25 is established through the silver-paste layer in the terminal 25.

The upper metal lead 31 (not shown) is constructed identically to the lower metal lead 30 and hence, its explanation is omitted here. However, the electrical connection between the upper metal lead 31 and the terminal 26 is different since the terminal 26 is located on the edge of the crystal oscillator opposite from edge on which the terminal 25 is formed.

FIG. 2 shows a connection between the upper metal lead 31 deposited in the through-hole 19 of the upper plate 9 and the left-side electrical terminal 26. In this case, the connection of the upper metal lead 31 is accomplished through a conductive pattern or layer 27 formed on the upper plate 9. A glass layer 28 is formed on the conductive layer 27 and acts as an insulating layer. The right side terminal 25 is insulated from the upper metal lead 31 by the glass insulating layer 28. The conductive layer 27 contacts the metal layer 31 and the left-side electrical terminal 26.

A second embodiment of a crystal oscillator is shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7. The crystal oscillator shown in FIG. 6 is very similar to the oscillator shown in FIG. 2. A difference between the two embodiments is found in the position of the connecting part 11.

In the second embodiment, the connecting part 11 is positioned at the center of the longer edge of the rectangular vibrating plate 8. Also, the vibrating part 12 is supported at its longer edge in a cantilever fashion. The upper electrical lead 16, extends from the upper electrode 14, towards the lower edge of the vibrating plate 8 and bends towards the shorter edge of the vibrating plate 8. The lower electrical lead 17 extends from the lower electrode 15 and also extends towards the longer edge of the vibrating plate 8. However, the lower electrical lead bends toward the other shorter edge of the vibrating plate 8, as shown in FIG. 7.

The second embodiment has the advantage over the first embodiment in that it is simpler to construct. The second embodiment does not need the conductive pattern 27 and the insulating layer 28. The upper electrical lead 16 is connected to the right-side terminal 25 using the through-hole 19 and the metal lead therein in the upper casing 9. The lower electrical lead 17 is connected to the left-side terminal 26 using the through-hole 18 and the metal lead therein in the lower casing 6.

Variations to the embodiments described above are possible. For example, the shape of the plates 6, 8, 9 is described as nearly rectangular or rectangular. The shape of the components may be modified to be square or other common geometrical shape (or otherwise modified) to provide the intended function.

It should be recognized that the vibrating plate 8 is made as one body with the same material. Therefore, the relative position of the vibrating part 12 to the rim part 10 is fixed. This construction provides the advantage of avoiding contact between the vibrating part 12 with the rim part 10. Moreover, since the thicknesses of vibrating part 12 and connecting part 11, including the thicknesses of the electrodes 14, 15 and the electrical leads 16, 17, are made less than the thickness of the rim part 10, vibrating part 12 is prevented from contacting the upper casing 9 or lower casing 6 even when the vibrating part 12 is in a vibrating mode.

As a result, the crystal oscillator of this invention provides the excellent advantage of ensuring that the vibrating part 12 will not contact any other parts of the crystal oscillator.

Further, recesses are provided in each of the casings 6, 9 in order to provide still a larger distance between the vibrating part 12 and the casings 6, 9. The recesses provide the advantage that if the depth of each recess is made deep enough, there is no need to make the thickness of the vibrating part 12 less than the thickness of the rim part.

Of course, it should be understood that a wide range of changes and modifications can be made to the preferred embodiment described above. It is therefore intended that the foregoing detailed description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting, and that it be understood that it is the following claims, including all equivalents, which are intended to define the scope of this invention.