Proportional relationship between product size and cost

Changes in the size of electronic parts

With the advent of an advanced information-oriented society, electronic devices used in our daily lives have become increasingly sophisticated. The number of electronic parts used in electronic devices has been increasing because higher functionality and performance are required. With electronic devices having been downsized, internal electronic parts have evolved into even smaller and thinner products.

Cost structure of quartz crystal resonators

Regarding the general structure of quartz crystal resonators, a quartz crystal blank is fixed in a ceramic package using a conductive adhesive and is sealed using a lid. Quartz crystal resonators have been miniaturized by reducing the size and thickness of packages and lids, which are used as components, and by miniaturizing quartz crystal blanks that are mounted inside.
In general, a reduction in size and thickness of components leads to less consumption of materials, resulting in lower cost. However, downsizing below a certain level results in higher engineering difficulty in the production process, such as processing and assembly, leading to higher cost.
In other words, from the viewpoint of cost structure, quartz crystal resonators become more costly by miniaturization.

WLP technology

The Arkh series, which represents our original products, adopts wafer-level packaging (WLP) technology that allows three crystal wafers to be bonded together. Unlike the conventional 1-by-1 processing method, WLP technology enables assembly on wafers. This helps overcome difficult handling and realizes miniaturization and lower cost.
In addition, the Arkh series also uses synthetic quartz crystals for packages and lids, all of which can be procured in-house. This ensures stable procurement without being affected by disruptions in the supply chain.

Proportional relationship between product size and cost

In terms of WLP technology, comparing quartz crystal wafers of the same size, the smaller the product size, the greater the number of products manufactured in a single process. The cost decreases in proportion to the product size. Also, the number of processes increases with the increase in size of the quartz crystal wafers, which is achieved by our core technology. The greater the size of a quartz crystal wafer, the lower the cost.
In summary, the Arkh series, which uses WLP technology, is our original key product that achieves both miniaturization and low cost.