Dedicated finite elements for electrode thin films on quartz resonators

The accuracy of the finite element analysis for thickness shear quartz resonators is a function of the mesh resolution; the finer the mesh resolution, the more accurate the finite element solution. A certain minimum number of elements are required in each direction for the solution to converge. This places a high demand on memory for computation, and often the available memory is insufficient. Typically the thickness of the electrode films is very small compared with the thickness of the resonator itself; as a result, electrode elements have very poor aspect ratios, and this is detrimental to the accuracy of the result. In this paper, we propose special methods to model the electrodes at the crystal interface of an AT cut crystal. This reduces the overall problem size and eliminates electrode elements having poor aspect ratios. First, experimental data are presented to demonstrate the effects of electrode film boundary conditions on the frequency-temperature curves of an AT cut plate. Finite element analysis is performed on a mesh representing the resonator, and the results are compared for testing the accuracy of the analysis itself and thus validating the results of analysis. Approximations such as lumping and Guyan reduction are then used to model the electrode thin films at the electrode interface and their results are studied. In addition, a new approximation called merging is proposed to model electrodes at the electrode interface.