Date: 12/01/2012

Kyocera makes AT-Cut crystal unit using photolithographic process

Kyocera Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiary in charge of quartz crystal device development and manufacturing, Kyocera Kinseki Corporation has developed the new CX1612SB AT-Cut Crystal Unit which was achieved through application of a photolithographic process. The new product achieves a crystal impedance (CI) value (motional series resistance) of 60 ohms, a 25% improvement over conventional products.

Kyocera Kinseki will provide samples of this product starting in March 2012, and start mass production with a target of 500,000 units per month starting in the summer of 2012. The product will be sold by regional Kyocera Group companies.

crystal
The AT-cut crystal unit, a component that oscillates the reference signal for ICs, is widely used in various electronic devices such as mobile phones, smartphones, and healthcare devices. In recent years, higher precision has been required of the oscillator units due to the increasing functionality of these devices. However, there are limitations on the processing accuracy in the conventional machine lapping process*1, resulting in variations in characteristics as well as design prototypes requiring a period of two to three months to complete.

By developing a unique manufacturing technology to apply photolithographic processing, which allows numerous minute patterns to be formed on one crystal substrate (wafer), Kyocera Kinseki has solved these problems and succeeded in developing a product that improves the CI value by 25% and cuts lead-time for design prototypes by more than half.
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