Surface mount quartz crystal resonators and methods for making same

A resonator assembly comprising:

• a quartz crystal-based resonator plate, including
• a central portion having a top surface and a bottom surface and adapted to resonate at a desired frequency, and
• a border substantially surrounding the central portion, the border including a first region physically separated from the central portion, a second region joined to the central portion, and an outer edge surface;
• a first electrode disposed on the top surface of the central portion and including conductive plating on the outer edge surface of the border;
• a second electrode disposed on the bottom surface of the central portion;
• a base plate secured to the resonator plate;
• and
• a cover plate secured to the resonator plate.

A resonator plate comprising:

• a quartz crystal-based resonator plate, including
• a central portion having a top surface and a bottom surface adapted to resonate at a desired frequency, and
• a border substantially surrounding the central portion, the border including a first region physically separated from the central portion, a second region joined to the central portion, and an outer edge surface;
• a first electrode, disposed on the surface of the central portion and extending substantially continuously across the second region of the border to the outer edge surface;
• and
• a second electrode disposed on the bottom surface of the central portion and extending substantially continuously across the second region of the border to the outer edge surface,
• wherein of the first electrode includes conductive plating on a portion of the outer edge surface of the border and the second electrode includes conductive plating on another portion of the outer edge surface of the border.

A method of manufacturing a quartz crystal-based resonator plate comprising the steps of:

• providing a solid quartz crystal based plate having a top surface, an opposing bottom surface, an outer edge, and an outer edge surface;
• removing a portion of the plate to form the quartz crystal-based plate having a slot physically separating a central portion of the plate from a border of the plate;
• forming a planar area on the top surface of plate wherein the planar area extends along a common plane from the central portion across a portion of the border and to the outer edge of the plate, and wherein the planar area comprises one of an elevated planar area and a recessed planar area, with respect to an adjacent surface area of the plate;
• applying an electrode material to at least a portion of the planar area, and
• repeating the forming and applying steps on the opposing bottom surface of the plate.