Method for influencing the operating frequency of an oscillating crystal german patent DE 10 2005 054 745

A method has been developed whereby it is posible to specifically alter, or tune the operating frequency of quartz oscillators by means of exposing them to ionizing radition, e.g. x-rays or gamma rays from radioactive isotopes. It has been demonstrated that after a short annealing phase, the radiation-induced frequency changes are stable for a long time. The advantage of this method is that tuning can be carried out, for example on closed, already soldered components, due to the long range of the radition used. Moreover, no additional components are necessary, such as "laser-tunable" capacitors, which negatively influence the stability of oscillators, in particular through increased noise.