Back to results
US 6,319,430 B1Granted
Preconditioned crystals of lithium niobate and lithium tantalate and method of preparing the same
AssigneeCrystal Technology, Inc.
InventorsPeter F. Bordui, Dieter H. Jundt, Richard G. Norwood, Eugene M. Standifer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Crystals of lithium niobate and lithium tantalate are preconditioned to intentionally increase their electrical conductivity, thus providing crystals with an increased ability to reduce surface charging. Reducing surface charging reduces the risk that the crystals may catastrophically discharge, and adversely affect the performance of devices in which the crystal is incorporated.
Claims6
A method for preconditioning a lithium niobate or lithium tantalate crystal to increase the crystal's ability to reduce electric charging of the crystal surface comprising:
- heating the crystal under a chemically reducing atmosphere to a first temperature;
- and
- quenching the crystal by reducing its temperature to below a second temperature of about 250° C. under a chemically reducing atmosphere;
- wherein the chemically reducing atmosphere, the first temperature and the second temperature are selected so that following heating and quenching, a charge decay time of less than one second is required to reduce the surface charge of the crystal to less than 5.0×10−11 coulombs as measured at a temperature of 80° C. following heating to a temperature of 125° C.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.