Synthetic quartz crystal - A review

Quartz is the second most widely used electronic material, with approximate ly 3,000 t (3,300 st) of single crystals used each year. Most of the quartz used in electronics is synthetic and is manufactured using a technique cal led hydrothermal growth. This paper reviews the basics of hydrothermal grow th, the feedstocks used for these crystals and the challenges to improving the growth process. This paper also reviews the processing of these crystal s, the markets and applications where they are used, and the global outlook for these markets.