BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a piezo-electric vibrator and, more precisely, a piezo-electric vibrator whose fundamental vibration mode is the thickness-shear mode, like an AT-cut quartz vibrator, a BT-cut quartz vibrator or a ceramic vibrator.

It has experimentally been confirmed by the inventors of this invention that in piezo-electric vibrators of the thickness-shear vibrational mode, there is an "abnormal frequency phenomenon" which is different from the well-known "jump phenomenon", the latter phenomenon being one in which the fundamental main vibration is drawn into a spurious vibration whose mode is different from that of the fundamental main vibration. The "abnormal frequency phenomenon", on the other hand is a phenomenon which is induced by harmonic vibrations whose mode is the same one as the fundamental main vibration. If this "abnormal frequency phenomenon" is present within the working temperatures and load capacitances of the piezo-electric vibrator, this gives rise to various problems such as unsatisfactory performance and unstable operation of the piezo-electric vibrator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, at least one additional mass for purpose of frequency adjustment is formed in the shape of a line on or near the nodal line of a desirable one of 3-fold harmonic vibrations.

It is an object of the present invention to improve upon the thickness-shear mode quartz oscillator or vibrator described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 876,155 which had been invented by the same inventors as the present invention.

Another object of the present invention is to further reliably prevent the undesirable occurence of the "abnormal frequency phenomemom".

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a piezo-electric vibrator of more stable operation and higher performance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The foregoing together with further features, objects and advantages of the present invention will be more fully understood from the following description in accordance with the accompanying drawings in which;

FIGS. 1 and 2 are respectively a front view and a longitudinal sectional view of a conventional AT-cut quartz vibrator,

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a driving circuit incorporating the vibrator of FIGS. 1 and 2,

FIG. 4 is a frequency-temperature characteristic diagram of the conventional AT-cut quartz vibrator,

FIG. 5 shows side views of various types of vibrators,

FIG. 6 is a frequency-phase characteristic diagram of the conventional AT-cut quartz vibrator,

FIG. 7 is a load capacitance characteristic diagram of the conventional AT-cut quartz vibrator,

FIG. 8 is an enlarged front view of an AT-cut quartz vibrator, in the preceeding process that an additional mass is formed,

FIGS. 9 and 10 are diagrams of the distribution of the vibration energy of the fundamental main vibration of an AT-cut quartz vibrator respectively on the X axis and the Z' axis,

FIGS. 11 and 12 are diagrams of the distribution of the vibration energy of a 3-fold harmonic vibration of an AT-cut quartz vibrator respectively on the X axis and the Z' axis,

FIG. 13 is an enlarged front view of an addition mass of one embodiment of the present invention, and

FIG. 14 is an enlarged front view of addition masses of an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate an example of a heretofore known plano-convex type AT-cut quartz vibrator (fundamental frequency f₀ ÷4.2 MHz), which comprises a quartz piece 1, driving electrodes 2,2 outwardly extending electrodes 2_a,2_a and an addition mass 3. The quartz piece 1 has a diameter of 8.00 mm and a center thickness of 0.41 mm. The driving electrodes 2,2 are formed on the opposite surfaces of the quartz piece 1 by evaporation or other method and have a diameter of 5.20 mm. The outwardly extending electrodes 2_a, 2_a extend integrally from the driving electrodes 2,2 in the radial direction and are connected to supporting springs (not shown). The addition mass 3 is formed as a film on one of the driving electrodes 2,2 by evaporation or other method in order to adjust the frequency f₀. The addition mass 3 has a truly circular shape and its center is coaxial with that of the driving electrodes 2,2. The addition mass 3 is generally made of the same material as that of the driving electrodes 2, 2 (e.g. Au, Ag). If desired, the addition mass 3 may be formed on each of the driving electrodes 2, 2 rather than on only one as shown. The quantity of material evaporated to form the addition mass 3 is referred to as a "plate-back quantity" and is expressed in terms of the frequency drop (KHz) caused by forming the addition mass 3.

A number of quartz vibrators as described above are driven, as shown in FIG. 3, by using a driving circuit comprising load capacitances C₁, C₂ and C₃ and a C-MOS type integrated circuit 5 not having a frequency selection circuit in its oscillation loop to measure its frequency-temperature characteristics. In FIG. 3, the reference number 4 indicates the above-described quartz vibrator. The results of such measurement are shown in FIG. 4 which is a graph whose ordinate represents the frequency f (KHz) and whose abscissa represents the temperature T (°C.). Those portions of the graph which are circled represent the positions at which the above-mentioned "abnormal frequency phenomenon" occurs.

It has been found that this "abnormal frequency phenomenon" arises from the mutual interference between a fundamental wave current fed back by the fundamental main vibration, and a harmonic wave current fed back by the harmonic vibrations, and that this "abnormal frequency phenomenon" is different from the conventional "jump phenomenon". It has also been ascertained that this "abnormal frequency phenomenon" is more likely to occur in a vibrator, of the type shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 have an addition mass 3 on a driving electrode 2 for the fine adjustment of the frequency. Moreover, this "abnormal frequency phenomenon" occurs more strikingly in convex lens type AT-cut quartz vibrators such as the plano-convex type of FIG. 5 (B), in the bi-convex type of FIGS. 5 (C), and in the bevelled types of FIGS. 5 (D) and 5 (E), than in the plate type of FIG. 5 (A). It has also been confirmed that the "abnormal frequency phenomenon" takes place even in vibrators not having the additional mass 3.

FIG. 6 illustrates the frequency-phase characteristics (resonance characteristics) of a sample of conventional plano-convex type AT-cut quartz vibrators (in which the plate-back quantity of the addition mass 3 is 4 KHz), where f₀ is the fundamental frequency and f₃₁ and f₃₂ are frequencies of a group of harmonic vibrations that are present near the triple frequency of the fundamental frequency f₀. As shown in the load capacitance characteristic curve of FIG. 7, the fundamental frequency f₀ varies in accordance with the load capacitance C_L (The frequency adjustment of the quartz vibrator uses this phenomenon). However, f₃₁ /3 and f₃₂ /3 hardly cause any change. In a practical application, the load capacitance C_L is mostly set at 10 PF or below because a smaller load capacitance generally provides a wider range for the frequency adjustment. Accordingly, in the working range of the load capacitance C_L, it sometimes occurs that the fundamental frequency f₀ coincides with the frequency f₃₂ /3. Even when these frequencies do not coincide, they become coincident with each other under certain temperature conditions because the frequencies are extremely close to each other. In this instance, the frequency f₃₂ /3 exerts an influence on the fundamental frequency f₀ and thus causes the "abnormal frequency phenomenon". This generally applies to a group of harmonic vibrations of a multiple of an odd number of the fundamental frequency f.sub. 0.

In other words, in a piezo-electric vibrator of the thickness-shear mode type such as an AT-cut quartz vibrator, there are almost always present a series of a group of harmonic vibrations in the range of n (odd number) times the frequency of the fundamental frequency f₀. Further, some of the harmonic vibrations may satisfy the relationship f₀ =f_ns n between its frequency f_ns and the fundamental frequency f₀ according to circumstances such as manufacturing errors of the vibrator, used conditions of the vibrator or characteristics of the driving circuit.

For the above-described reason, the "abnormal frequency phenomenon" shown in FIG. 4 is very likely to occur. The magnitude H of the "abnormal frequency phenomenon" (see FIG. 4) becomes greater as the degree n of the harmonic vibration becomes smaller.

The reason why this "abnormal frequency phenomenon" has not so far been a serious problem is that the occurrence of the phenomenon depends in particular upon the kind and performance of the driving circuit used therefor. This "abnormal frequency phenomenon" does not occur, for example, when a piezo-electric vibrator of the thickness shear mode type is driven by an oscillation circuit having a frequency selection/tuning circuit such as a tank circuit. Moreover, when a C-MOS type integrated circuit 5 not having a frequency selection circuit in its oscillation loop as shown in FIG. 3 is used, the "abnormal frequency phenomenon" does not occur, or is smaller even when it does occur, if the high frequency response characteristics of the integrated circuit 5 are not very good. As the high frequency response characteristics of the integrated circuit 5 become better, however, the "abnormal frequency phenomenon" is more noticeable and more likely to occur. Hence, the "abnormal frequency phenomenon" will become a serious problem in the future when the development of the integrated circuit proceeds further and its high frequency response characteristics are enhanced.

Although the inventors of the present invention had heretofore described in U.S. application Ser. No. 876,155 construction for very easily and reliably preventing the above-described "abnormal frequency phenomenon" in vibrators of the thickness-shear mode type, it has been found that the addition mass can have further suitable shape or position to eliminate the "abnormal frequency phenomenon" as a result of further study and analysis of this phenomenon.

An embodiment in accordance with the present invention will be described next.

A plano-convex type AT-cut quartz vibrator (the quartz piece 1 and the driving electrodes 2,2 have the same shape and size as those in the conventional devices), as shown in FIG. 8, is driven by using the same circuit as that shown in FIG. 3 at the load capacitance C_L =∞, and before formation of the addition mass, to measure the distribution of the vibration energy of the fundamental main vibration (f₀ =4203.580 KHz) and the 3-fold harmonic vibration (f₃₂ =12595.66 KHz, f₃₂ /3=4198.55 KHz) by the well-known probe method. The results of such measurement are shown in FIGS. 9, 10, 11 and 12 which are graphs whose ordinate represents the strength of the vibration energy E and whose abscissa represents the X axis or the Z' axis of the quartz piece 1. The fundamental main vibration has the distribution of the vibration energy, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, which concentrates near the center O of the quartz piece 1 and which continuously and gradually reduces towards the peripheral portion. This fact has been well known for quite some time. However, in accordance with the invention it has been discovered that the harmonic vibration has the distribution of the vibration energy, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, which is swollen at a peak A being present on the center O of the quartz piece 1 and at a peak C being present outside a node B, and which reduces toward the node B from both of the peaks A and C and which gradually reduces toward the peripheral portion from the peak C. That is to say, the harmonic vibration has an elliptic nodal line L, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 13, which is formed by the concurrence of the node B. The nodal line L, in the case of this vibrator having the above-described shape and size, has a distance d₁ of about 0.6 mm on the X axis and has a distance d₂ of about 1.2 mm on the Z' axis.

On the base of results of such measurements, in this embodiment, an addition mass 3_a is formed, as shown in FIG. 13, in the form of a doughnut or elliptic annulus having a width of about 0.2 mm on the nodal line L on the plane surface of the driving electrodes 2,2 as shown in FIG. 8 by evaporation or other method. If desired, the addition mass 3_a may be formed on the other curved surface or on each of the driving electrodes 2, 2. Such addition mass 3_a hardly has influence upon the 3-fold harmonic vibration and instead has influence effectively upon the fundamental main vibration because it is formed on the nodal line L of the former vibration and this nodal line L being present in the area where the vibration energy of the latter vibration is sufficiently great. Consequently, the frequency f₃₂ of the 3-fold harmonic vibration hardly varies whereas, the frequency f₀ of the fundamental main vibration drops effectively. Thus the difference between f₃₂ /3 and f₀ becomes larger and the two hardly coincide under any working load capacitances and temperatures. As results, the "abnormal frequency phenomenon" can not be seen at all.

Moreover, although there are further high degree harmonic vibrations, the 3-fold harmonic whose degree n is the smallest have the most remarkable influence to give riise to the "abnormal frequency phenomenon". Although there is a harmonic vibration of frequency f₃₁ except that of frequency f₃₂ in a group of 3-fold harmonic vibrations, the former hardly has the possibility that the frequency f₃₁ /3 coincides with the fundamental frequency f₀. Consequently, the "abnormal frequency phenomenon" can be sufficiently eliminated or prevented if the countermeasure is considered against the 3-fold harmonic vibration of the frequency f₃₂.

Furthermore, the addition mass 3_a may be formed like addition masses 3_b, 3_b in another embodiment as shown in FIG. 14. Because a mask, which is employed to form the addition mass by evaporation or other method, is obliged to be provided with a center mask portion and a peripheral mask portion which are connected to each other at at least one position, the addition mass has a cut-off portion at corresponding positions. In such case, the cut-off portion of the addition mass is preferably positioned on the Z' axis as shown in FIG. 14 because the effect that the addition mass exerts to the fundamental main vibration becomes greater as the additional mass is located as close as possible to the center O of the quartz piece 1.

Although the foregoing embodiments of the present invention relate to AT-cut quartz vibrators, the explanation can apply also to other piezo-electric vibrators, such as BT-cut quartz vibrators or ceramic vibrators, which vibrate in the thickness-shear mode.

As described in detail in the foregoing paragraph, the addition mass 3_a or 3_b in accordance with the present invention merely has effective influence on the fundamental main vibration and hardly has influence on the 3-fold harmonic vibration. Thus the "abnormal frequency phenomenon" can be further reliably prevented within the practical range of working load capacitances and temperatures. This prevention against the "abnormal frequency phenomenon" can be effected merely by changing the shape of the aperture of the evaporation mask. Hence, the carrying out of the present invention never requires any change in the conventional production process and is therefore extremely simple. In particular, a piezo-electric vibrator in accordance with the present invention exhibits excellent effects in the case that the vibrator is driven by using a C-MOS type integrated circuit not having a frequency selection circuit in its oscillation loop and that its vibration mode is the thickness-shear mode. The benefits of the invention will become more noticeable as the high frequency response characteristics of the integrated circuit are further improved.