The tuning fork quartz crystal or clock crystal is one of the oldest quartz crystal designs. Originally used for timekeeping in watches and clocks, tuning forks are now also used in modern electronic products such as computers as real-time clocks (RTCs). Hundreds of millions of these uniquely shaped quartz crystals are produced by global suppliers every year. Tuning fork crystals are available in a variety of sizes to meet design needs, and there is a trend towards smaller surface mount crystal packages every year.

Tuning Fork Quartz Crystal (also known as cylindrical crystal oscillator) refers to a crystal oscillator with a quartz crystal wafer that looks like a tuning fork. It is a quartz crystal resonator that is often used to provide clock frequencies to ensure that electronic devices can work properly. The common frequency of tuning fork crystal oscillators is 32.768KHZ, and the main sizes are ‌DIP:3.0x8.0mm(WQC-TF308), 2.0x6.0mm(WQC-TF206), and are commonly used in remote controls, quartz watches, clocks, computers, home appliance automatic control and industrial automatic control, etc.

As the name suggests, quartz crystals are made of quartz. Traditionally, quartz is a naturally occurring hard mineral, but most quartz today is grown synthetically in autoclaves, which provides a higher standard purity than natural quartz. Quartz is used because it becomes piezoelectric and generates an electrical charge when mechanical pressure and tension are applied. This pressure causes mechanical vibrations that we call frequency.

Quartz needs to be cut at precise angles to initiate specific vibration modes and ensure that the piezoelectric effect works. One of the most common crystal designs is the AT Cut crystal. The frequency of an AT Cut crystal is determined by the thickness of the crystal. For example: the thinner the crystal, the higher the frequency. The vibration quality of the crystal will directly determine whether a parallel or series resonant crystal is required for the crystal oscillator circuit design.

The most common quartz crystal frequency is 32.768kHz. This frequency has become common because when 32.768kHz is divided by 2/15, there is a 1Hz signal. This 1Hz signal will always provide a second. This provides a reliable timekeeping system for the advent of days, dates, and times. The frequency of the classic tuning fork is ultimately a result of simple arithmetic operations and the general conditions of quartz production.

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The tuning fork crystal is named because its quartz oscillator is cut into the shape of a tuning fork. It is not because its appearance resembles a tuning fork as some people say on the Internet. Due to technical and process reasons, early tuning fork crystal oscillators were mostly cylindrical, which gave many people the misunderstanding that tuning fork crystal= cylindrical crystal.

With the continuous miniaturization of electronic products, higher requirements are placed on the external dimensions of tuning fork crystal. Tuning fork crystals using surface mounting have also appeared.

WQC-TF206 32.768KHZ quartz crystal/tuning fork crystal/clock crystal/TV crystal/cylindrical crystal is most suitable for relatively economical electronic products, such as children's toys, ordinary household appliances, and can make the product highly reliable even in the field of automotive electronics. It can also be used for the CPU clock signal source part of the safety control device, just like the quartz crystal on the clock microcontroller. Under extremely harsh environmental conditions, the crystal can also work normally, with stable oscillation characteristics, high heat resistance, heat cycle resistance and vibration resistance and other high reliability performance.

The design of the electrode of the quartz crystal product has the following functions for the quartz crystal components: 1. Change the frequency; 2. Lead the electrode to the outside world; 3. Change the resistance; 4. Suppress the noise. Items 1, 2, and 3 are relatively simple, and the design of item 4 is very critical. The shape, size, thickness, and type of electrode (such as gold, silver, etc.) will lead to changes in item 4. In particular, as the size of the crystal chip decreases, there are higher requirements for the shape, size, and accuracy of the chip electrode design---the consistency of the tolerance size and position has an increasing impact on the crystal product, so more precise requirements are put forward for the design of the electrode, quartz watch crystal for clocks, cylindrical package crystal.

WQC-TF206 and WQC-TF308 are direct-insertion ordinary tuning fork crystal resonators (quartz crystal resonators, passive crystal) launched by WEET, which are packaged in metal shells. Their frequencies are both the commonly used frequency of 32.768KHz, and the inflection point temperature is 25±3℃ (the frequency changes the least with temperature near the inflection point), which is very suitable for personal computers and clocks.

These two direct-insertion crystal resonators have low power consumption, and the typical value of the excitation power is only 1.0μW; the commonly used load capacitance is 6pF, 7pF, 9pF, 12.5pF; the frequency tolerance at 25℃ is ±10ppm, ±20ppm.

Product features of TF-206 and TF-308 direct-insert crystal resonators:

Resistor welding type crystal resonator

Standard frequency of 32.768 KHz

Higher frequency pull (change in crystal frequency caused by changes in load conditions) and lower equivalent series resistance (ESR);

Low cost, which can greatly improve production capacity

Pb-free, RoHS compliant

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