Quartz Pro is changing the conditions for the production of frequency control equipment by having developed a true production-friendly crystal oscillator – the surface mounted Quartz Pro x-act. A special property of the Quartz Pro oscillator design is that the frequency is not substantially affected by heating in connection with IR or hot air soldering. The surface mounted x-act crystal oscillator can be used directly after being reflow soldered in place without subsequent frequency recovery.

Running a surface mount crystal oscillator through a “pick and place” soldering process used in production has traditionally been a problem. The operating frequency of the oscillator is affected by heating in connection with the soldering and in many cases it can take several weeks for the frequency to return to its nominal value, if it ever does. If the frequency is little affected, it is a great advantage from a production point of view. The equipment manufacturer can ship the equipment just after having soldered the oscillators. Many equipment producers attach great importance to this in their continuous struggle to reduce time between order and delivery. Equipment manufacturers would therefor do wisely to consider this particular aspect of surface mounting crystal oscillators.

Quartz Pro x-act has proved to be stable and unaffected by the severe heat treatment in the soldering process. The frequency of an x-act crystal oscillator reaches the initial frequency within 50 parts per billion after less than 3 hours. A complete test report is available from Quartz Pro.