A Study on The Behaviour and Characteristics of A Quartz Tuning Fork Using Finite Element Method

The quartz tuning fork, initially designed for frequency control and clocks, has found a number of interesting applications due to its high stability and precision. It has seen use in scanning probe microscopy, force sensors, mass sensors, etc. As with most electromechanical resonators, the quartz tuning fork mainly uses resonant mode sensing in order to be used as a sensing device. Owing to its high quality factor, a shift in its natural frequency can be used to detect changes in the system’s parameters. In this work, the quartz tuning fork is modeled and examined through three-dimensional finite element analysis. The QTF exhibits an asymmetric behaviour in its frequency response due to parasitic capacitance. The parasitic capacitance of the resonator is examined analytically and experimentally, and later compensated to remove the asymmetry in its response. The experimental results are compared with the finite element simulations and with its widely used analytical model.