header picture quartz production

The previous blog post entitled: Ask the Product Manager: Are real rock crystals used for production of oscillating quartz crystals? covered the initial stages in the production of these small clocks. Quartz is artificially grown in autoclaves, reaching a weight of several kilos. From this point, however, we are still a few production stages away

SiO2 – this is the chemical name of the base material for oscillating quartz crystals. The formula shows that it is composed of only two elements: silicon and oxygen. We also find SiO2 in its crystalline form in the nature: as natural rock crystals. Here, the question arises: Are real rock crystals used for production

The topic of component shortage is omnipresent. Nowadays, almost every electronic component is affected. The reasons? There are various of them and they include supply problems, as well as, correspondingly, the availability of the components. Others can be traced back to digitization, resulting in an increased number of final products and, due to this, a

Nowadays, Christmas without quartz crystals is unimaginable! Why? Even the modern time switches for outdoor lighting need a quartz to have an accurate time base. Also, a lot of our gifts are based on state-of-the-art electronics. Cell phones, smartwatches, PCs – they all need highly accurate frequency giving components to communicate with each other. Without

Do you already know the similarity between a quartz blank and a pillow? Exactly! Both have the same shape. The so-called “bevelling” or “contouring” in the production process of quartz blanks results in the characteristic lens shape of quartz blanks. “This procedure is mainly used for ‘thicker’ blanks, which are in the low frequency range,

What you always wanted to know about quartz crystals, but didn’t dare ask until now … – Why does a quartz crystal have to be hermetically sealed? At the end of the complex production of a quartz, or rather the small quartz disc, the quartz blank, it has to be mounted in a housing that

A blender in a kitchen

“If Apple made a blender, this would be it” – the British-American online news portal Mashable nailed it. When it comes to aesthetics and product design, the blender “Millo”, created by the Lithuanian start-up Millo Appliances, is very close to the great idol from Cupertino. Besides its award-winning design, the technology behind “Millo” is particularly

Mann mit Hemd

TCXO: How it works and why

A TCXO is a temperature-compensated crystal oscillator that is used whenever particularly high stability within a variant temperature environment is required, i.e. when the frequency deviation of the oscillator must be minimal over its entire operating temperature range. Oscillators using AT quartz crystal plates, so called “blanks”, are the most economical solution to create a

The boom of quartz watches in the 70s has shown: When it comes to precise time recording, there is nothing better than quartz crystals! This is no different today. Frequency control products with the characteristic frequency of 32.768 kHz can be found in almost all applications with integrated time measurement, e.g. laptops, mobile phones or

Two men analyze an electronic circuit

Many engineers do not spend much thought on quartz crystals while designing their oscillator circuit. For them, it is a standard feature that will work anyway. In fact, it’s not that simple. The oscillator circuit sets the heartbeat of the application and requires a careful matching between the quartz crystal and its other components. Otherwise