Custom crystals support obsolescence programmes

Euroquartz operates the only quartz crystal manufacturing facility in the UK producing custom crystals for the RF and associated markets.

Euroquartz operates the only quartz crystal manufacturing facility in the UK producing custom crystals for the RF and associated markets.

Being literally the last independent crystal manufacturer in the UK means that many companies and organisations are now heavily dependent on Euroquartz's service, particularly in the current climate of obsolescence.

In a short period of time Euroquartz has made numerous improvements to its processes and techniques in order to accommodate specifications that would not have been envisaged in the past.

For example, fundamental frequencies on offer have been increased to 38MHz which enables the company to produce 5th overtone AT cut crystals up to 190MHz.

Test facility capabilities have also been enhanced with sophisticated bandrun systems enabling Euroquartz to offer temperature profiling and performance monitoring over a wide temperature range.

The company also established a filters division back in January 2000 and is now the prime UK source in this product area.

Webster Electronics, another member of the Euroquartz Group, had been supplying subcontract manufactured filters for many years and needed to establish a secure source in order to continue supporting its customers on a long term basis.

This became the driving force behind the formation of the filters division and the Euroquartz facility in Crewkerne, Somerset, now supplies most of the required filter crystals for customers' designs as well as for the company's own designs.

Many of Euroquartz's customers are involved in the defence industry but the company has seen an increasing amount of interest from the commercial sector since setting up the filters division.

A typical application would be a filter for removing interference from mobile phone frequencies.

Such a filter would have a centre frequency of 153.075MHz, attenuation of 55dB and passbands of +/-7.5kHz minimum (3dB band), +/-20kHz maximum (20dB band) and +/-30kHz maximum (45dB band).

The company sees itself as a niche market manufacturer offering solutions to companies that are seeking quartz crystal products.

During the last 12 months Euroquartz has been updating its internal quality systems and was awarded ISO9001 (2000) in March this year.

This upgrading of quality systems was seen by the company as essential for dealings with all customers especially those in the defence sector.

Euroquartz's Sales and Marketing Director, Andy Treble, commented, "Euroquartz has partnership manufacturing facilities in the Far East, the USA and Europe and these are seen as key elements in our success, enabling us to compete in the cost sensitive electronics market".

"These facilities, combined with the technical support that we offer our customers based on first hand experience over many years of actually manufacturing the products, give us a distinct advantage over our competitors", he added.

"Many of our customers view us as an extension of their own engineering and R and D facilities which is precisely the kind of service we aim to deliver", he concluded.

Frequency Products, another Euroquartz Group company, is concerned with seeking out new materials and products that may provide opportunities for new niche manufactured products.

The types of products that have been added to the group's range include specialist microwave ferrites and dielectrics, piezoceramic materials, high specification telemetry modules and coaxial ceramic resonators.

Managing Director, Dennis Murrell, commented, "It is essential for us to consider new areas into which the group can diversify in future.

As the RF crystal market inevitably continues to reduce in size over the longer term so the role of Frequency Products investigating these exciting new possibilities will become ever more important".

He concluded, "We are seeing an increase in demand for our niche products as a result of the many obsolescence programs that have been initiated recently.

This justifies the strategy we have adopted whereby we can offer products that are no longer viable for larger manufacturing operations.

With our longer term approach to new materials and products we are very positive about our future as a UK manufacturer in the frequency control sector".

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