The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 02, 1997
Filed:
Feb. 24, 1995
Takeshi Gomi, Nagano-ken, JP;
Yukihiro Endo, Nagano-ken, JP;
Seiko Epson Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An apparatus and method for manufacturing resonant elements such as piezoelectric elements, quartz resonators and other resonant elements while monitoring and regulating the resonance frequencies of the elements are disclosed. A radiation source such as an ion gun provides a plasma to selectively remove portions of an electrode on the resonant element to increase the resonance frequency. The distance between the radiation source and the electrode may be varied while monitoring the resonance frequency and the distance adjusted based on the measured resonance frequency. Different stages with increasing distances between different radiation sources and the resonant element to provide consecutively finer adjustment may be used to consecutively bombard the electrode with ions, with the resonant element being conveyed to the different stages. Oscillators and related devices using the resonant elements are also disclosed.