Method of fabricating piezoelectric vibrator and electronic apparatus and radio wave timepiece having piezoelectric vibrator

A method of fabricating a piezoelectric vibrator comprising:

• providing an airtight terminal comprised of a lead terminal and a piezoelectric member, the lead terminal having an inner lead portion and an outer lead portion, and the piezoelectric member having an exciting electrode and a mount electrode disposed on a surface of the piezoelectric member;
• providing a power supply and a plasma arc electrode connected to the power supply for generating a plasma arc discharge;
• connecting the outer lead portion of the lead terminal to an output terminal of the power supply and positioning the plasma arc electrode at a vicinity of a bonding portion for bonding together the inner lead portion of the lead terminal and the mount electrode of the piezoelectric member;
• applying a voltage between the inner lead portion of the lead terminal and the plasma arc electrode to generate a plasma arc discharge;
• and
• discharging the generated plasma arc to the bonding portion while subjecting at least the bonding portion to an argon gas atmosphere to thereby bond together with a solder the inner lead portion of the lead terminal and the mount electrode of the piezoelectric member.