Silicone watch parts for watches

Abstract

It provides a novel, optimizeable solution for watch components, particularly balance springs, while achieving both optimal performance suitable for thermal compensation of functional assemblies and sufficiently simple and stable manufacturing. [Solution] A method for manufacturing a watch component that allows thermal compensation for a functional assembly including watch components, the manufacturing method comprising at least the steps of: a. providing a substrate 1 made of a semiconductor material or a metal material; b. depositing a polycrystalline or monocrystalline silicon layer on the substrate; and c. releasing the watch component 10 from the substrate.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing hairsprings for oscillators, especially for watch parts. The present invention also relates to the watch parts themselves, watch movements including such watch parts, and watches themselves.

Background Art

[0002] In order to be commercially viable, watch parts must provide various properties, including being as easy to manufacture as possible, preferably non-magnetic, fully functional, resistant over time, and having reliable mechanical properties independent of external conditions, especially temperature. Therefore, in recent years, the requirements for manufacturing watch parts have become very strict. Existing solutions often rely on compromises, and the resulting parts are not optimized in terms of performance. Furthermore, manufacturing methods for watch parts are often very complex to implement.

[0003] As an example, existing solutions for mechanical miniaturized watch oscillators will be described in detail. Similar conclusions can be drawn for other watch parts.

[0004] The regulation of a mechanical miniature clock relies on at least one mechanical oscillator, which generally includes a flywheel, also called a balance wheel, and a spiral-wound spring, also called a mainspring or simply a hairspring. The hairspring may be fixed at one end to a fixed part of the clock, such as a balance cock, on which the balance staff revolves. Mainsprings in the movements of prior art mechanical miniature clocks are often in the form of an elastic metal strip or silicon strip with a rectangular cross-section, and are wound around themselves in an Archimedean spiral. The balance wheel / hairspring combination oscillates around a balance position (or dead center). When the balance wheel leaves this position, the hairspring is wound up. This generates a return torque that gives the balance wheel a tendency to return to the balance position. Because the balance wheel has gained a certain speed and kinetic energy, it moves beyond its dead center until the counter-torque from the hairspring stops it and causes it to rotate in the opposite direction. In this way, the hairspring regulates the oscillation period of the balance wheel.

[0005] It is known that changes in temperature cause thermal expansion of the hairspring and balance wheel, as well as fluctuations in the Young's modulus of the hairspring, which alter the natural frequency of the oscillator assembly, thereby interfering with the accuracy of small clocks. Conventional solutions exist that attempt to reduce or eliminate the case of temperature-induced frequency changes in oscillators. For this reason, various conventional solutions have sought to make the value of the oscillator's thermal expansion coefficient CT zero by selecting the temperature characteristics of the hairspring that are canceled out by the temperature characteristics of the connected balance wheel, in order to form an oscillator that is generally unresponsive to thermal changes.

[0006] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a solution that relies on a silicon hairspring containing a silicon dioxide layer, intended to thermally compensate for the oscillator. This solution requires a thick oxide layer. Its manufacture requires subjecting the hairspring to prolonged processing at very high temperatures, which is a drawback. As a variation, Patent Document 2 proposes the use of highly doped silicon. However, achieving the high level of doping required for thermal compensation is difficult.

[0007] In addition, the accuracy of a mechanical miniature watch also depends on the time-dependent stability of the natural frequency of the oscillator formed by the balance wheel and hairspring. The existence of frequency deviations in the balance wheel / hairspring oscillator over time is well known to watchmakers. For example, an oscillator equipped with a hairspring made of a manufactured ferromagnetic alloy may gradually increase in frequency, reaching a rate change of approximately 10 seconds / day after one year. To reduce this deviation, a heat treatment called firing is usually performed, which can reduce the rate deviation in the first year to less than 1 second / day, and this rate deviation is acceptable considering other disturbances caused by wearing the watch, such as shocks.

[0008] Of course, ferromagnetic alloys are also susceptible to adverse effects from external magnetic field properties, which manifest as misalignment.

[0009] Finally, it should be noted that existing clock oscillator hairsprings, like other clock components, generally have drawbacks that make it impossible to achieve optimal clock operation. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0010] [Patent Document 1] European Patent Application Publication No. 1422436 [Patent Document 2] European Patent Application Publication No. 3159746 [Patent Document 3] European Patent Application Publication No. 2277822 [Overview of the Initiative] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0011] The objective of the present invention is to provide a novel solution for watch components, particularly balance springs, that can be optimized while achieving both optimal performance suitable for thermal compensation of functional assemblies and sufficiently simple and stable manufacturing.

[0012] More specifically, the present invention seeks a solution for the mass production of watch parts with optimized performance, that is, while being as stable as possible and remaining unresponsive or minimally responsive to external attacks such as magnetic fields and temperature changes, and having excellent operating performance due to their essential mechanical properties.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0013] For this reason, the present invention is a method for manufacturing a thermally compensable watch part including a watch part, the manufacturing method comprising: a. Providing a substrate made of a semiconductor material or a metal material; b. Depositing a polycrystalline or single-crystalline silicon layer on the substrate; c. Releasing the watch part from the substrate; at least including the steps; depending on the method for manufacturing the watch part.

[0014] The present invention also relates to a watch part for a watch, which is wholly or partly made of polycrystalline silicon, and the watch part includes a polycrystalline silicon part uniformly doped throughout its entire thickness, or the watch part includes a polycrystalline silicon part including a surface doping layer.

[0015] The present invention also relates to a watch oscillator and the watch itself.

[0016] The present invention is more specifically defined by the claims.

[0017] The objects, features, and advantages of the present invention are given in detail in the following non-limiting description of specific embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0018] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the steps of a method for manufacturing a watch part according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2]FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing steps of a method for manufacturing a timepiece part according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing steps of a method for manufacturing a timepiece part according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing steps of a method for manufacturing a timepiece part according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing a technique usable for an additional doping step in a modified embodiment of a method for manufacturing a timepiece part according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing a technique usable for an additional doping step in a modified embodiment of a method for manufacturing a timepiece part according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing a technique usable for an additional doping step in a modified embodiment of a method for manufacturing a timepiece part according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing various embodiments of a timepiece part according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing various embodiments of a timepiece part according to an embodiment of the present invention. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0019] The present invention will be described in the context of a hairspring for a hairspring / coil spring assembly that forms an oscillator for a timepiece. In this embodiment, the hairspring is in the shape of an elastic strip having a rectangular cross section and wound around itself in an Archimedes spiral. As a modification, the hairspring may have other basic shapes, such as a non-rectangular cross section that is constant or not constant over the length of the hairspring. The present invention can of course be replaced with the manufacture of timepiece parts other than hairsprings, including parts of an oscillator having a flexible guidance or parts of a flexible shape arrangement forming an elastic virtual pivot.

[0020] A balance wheel (not shown) connected to the hairspring may, in known embodiments, be made of a copper / beryllium alloy. In variations, other materials may be used for the balance wheel. The present invention as described in this embodiment is thus not related to the balance wheel. However, the hairspring is designed in a thermally compensable manner to form a functional assembly that consists of the hairspring and a specific balance wheel combination to form an oscillator.

[0021] One embodiment of a method for manufacturing a hairspring for a clock movement oscillator will be described in detail below with reference to Figures 1 to 4.

[0022] The method includes a first step E1, which in particular, involves obtaining a substrate 1, which in this embodiment is a single-crystal silicon wafer. In this embodiment, a simple wafer is sufficient. Contrary to many existing methods, it is not necessary to use a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer, although a silicon-on-insulator wafer is compatible with the present invention. Nor is it necessary to use a substrate made of doped material. By variation, the substrate may be made of metal, or silicon carbide, or tungsten carbide, or quartz. Those skilled in the art will know how to combine the substrate and the growth process so that the substrate is not altered by the process temperature. Those skilled in the art will also know how to select a substrate that is sufficiently thick to be manageable. Thus, the first advantage of the present invention is that it makes it possible to use a wafer as a substrate, which is simpler and less expensive than the substrates used in prior art solutions.

[0023] Advantageously, the first step E1 may include an optional additional step of preparing the wafer. For this purpose, the wafer may be polished and cleaned. The wafer may be coated with an oxide layer 2, as shown in Figure 1. For example, the surface of the wafer may be oxidized to form a surface layer of silicon dioxide (SiO2) with a thickness of about 2 μm.

[0024] As an alternative to the silicon substrate used in this embodiment, any substrate made of semiconductor material and / or metal material, optionally coated with a layer of silicon dioxide (SiO2), can be used.

[0025] The method then includes a second step E2, which consists of depositing a polycrystalline or single-crystal silicon layer 5 on the surface of the substrate 1 (i.e., on the surface of the oxide layer 2, if present), as shown in Figure 2.

[0026] According to the first approach, polycrystalline or single-crystal silicon may be deposited in a high-temperature CVD reactor by a gas flow containing silane and hydrogen. Growth is carried out epitaxially. In the case of polysilicon growth, the starting surface is formed with an already formed layer of polycrystalline silicon (seed layer), as is done when deposited in a low-temperature LPCVD reactor. This growth allows for the formation of a layer rising perpendicular to the surface of the substrate 1. Alternatively, to avoid excessively large grain sizes and maintain control over the characteristics of the deposited layers, it is also possible to re-seed the silicon layer during the growth process.

[0027] According to the second approach, polycrystalline silicon may be deposited by other means.

[0028] Finally, silicon deposition may consist of depositing silicon by a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) process or a PVD (physical vapor deposition) process.

[0029] The silicon deposition continues until a height of approximately 120 μm is reached, which will determine the thickness of the future watch component, as will be specified later. While other heights are possible, it should be noted that a silicon layer of at least 80 μm, or at least 100 μm, is preferable. In all cases, a thick layer is required.

[0030] At the end of this step, an optional intermediate step is performed, which preferably involves polishing the formed silicon layer 5 to ensure a good finish on the top surface and a uniform layer height. The polishing may be of a type called CMP (chemical mechanical polishing).

[0031] Therefore, the method performs a third step E3 in which the silicon layer 5 is etched, the result of which is illustrated in Figure 3. This yields an etched silicon layer 6. The etching is carried out by a known method, such as deep reactive ion etching (DRIE). Such a method uses a resin to form a mask, which allows the area to be etched in a predetermined pattern corresponding to the watch component (hairspring) manufactured in this embodiment to be limited before the resin is finally removed. This method is well known and will not be described in detail. In a variation, the etching may be carried out by a laser or by other methods known from the prior art. The result of this step is an etched silicon layer 6 placed on the substrate 1.

[0032] Finally, the method includes a fourth step E4, as shown in Figure 4, which involves releasing the etched silicon layer 6 from the substrate 1, thereby enabling the acquisition of the watch component 10. It should be noted that the substrate 1 is used solely for the manufacture of the watch component and is not intended to become part of the watch component 10. Thus, the watch component 10 has a thickness corresponding to the height of the optionally processed silicon layer 5 formed in the silicon deposition step E2.

[0033] The method advantageously allows for the simultaneous manufacture of multiple watch components on the same substrate 1. In this case, the fourth release step E4 consists of releasing all the watch components. Release is carried out by one of the methods known from the prior art, such as etching the substrate 1 from its bottom surface to form notches to facilitate access to the oxide layer 2 and dissolving the oxide layer 2 with hydrofluoric acid, or drilling holes in the unetched upper portion of the SOI wafer.

[0034] It is important to note that single-crystal silicon exhibits anisotropy in its elastic properties because its elastic modulus depends on the crystal orientation. The anisotropy of the elastic modulus was measured to be approximately ±15% around its average value. The consequences of this technical characteristic are communicated in the form of limitations when single-crystal silicon components are manufactured. This is because the phenomenon must be taken into consideration in the design in order to obtain watch components that are not adversely affected by this anisotropy or are only slightly affected. For this reason, the modified embodiment using polycrystalline silicon has the advantage of enabling the acquisition of watch components with isotropic elastic properties, thereby simplifying the overall design of the watch component, in this embodiment, the balance spring.

[0035] Furthermore, it should be noted that the watch component 10 obtained in this embodiment is obtained from a single silicon deposition step, thereby obtaining a single, homogeneous, monolithic, integrally cast watch component. The watch component is not manufactured by joining multiple separate parts or by inheriting separately grown layers.

[0036] Furthermore, a watch component formed in this manner is intended to be combined with one or more other components to perform a specific watch function. This is true when the watch component is a hairspring, which is intended to be combined with a balance wheel to form the oscillator of a watch movement, as described above. The hairspring and balance wheel, two separate watch components, are intended to cooperate to provide a common oscillator function. For this reason, more generally, a particular watch component is intended to be part of a larger functional assembly.

[0037] As mentioned above, another advantageous objective in the manufacture of watch components is to require watch components that are minimally dependent on temperature changes in order to achieve the same operation at all temperatures. Therefore, the present invention makes it possible to manufacture watch components that contribute to the thermal compensation of the functional assembly.

[0038] Therefore, particularly from Patent Document 2, it is known that doping the hairspring with high silicon concentration can improve the operation of the resulting oscillator with respect to temperature changes. In particular, depending on the material used for the balance wheel, such as titanium or a titanium alloy, high silicon doping of the hairspring alone may be sufficient to obtain thermal compensation for the oscillator obtained from the cooperation of the hairspring and balance wheel. For example, n-type doping of silicon can be obtained by using at least one element selected from antimony (Sb), arsenic (As), or phosphorus (P). Doping is understood to mean one of the solutions described above, or an equivalent solution. The present invention has another advantage of simplifying the acquisition of doped silicon components, as will be described in detail below.

[0039] According to the first modified embodiment, silicon is directly doped in a manner referred to as "in situ," that is, during the silicon deposition step E2, simultaneously with deposition, particularly with n-type dopants such as phosphorus. This makes it possible to diffuse the dopant elements at high temperatures after depositing elements in a gas layer on the wafer surface, or to directly implant ions via an ion beam. The first modified embodiment has the advantage of obtaining a watch component in which silicon is doped over its entire thickness (over the entire height of the deposited silicon layer 5). Such doping is also substantially uniform and homogeneous over the volume of silicon.

[0040] According to a second modified embodiment, the doping step is performed after the completion of step E2, in which the silicon layer 5 is deposited. In this case, the doping step may be performed before or after etching the silicon layer 5, as in the embodiments described above. Preferably, it is performed before step E4, in which the watch component is released, but as a modification, it may be performed after step E4, i.e., on the watch component separated from the substrate. Such a doping step is a diffusion or ion implantation doping step that allows the dopant to diffuse into the watch component and form a doped layer in part of the thickness of the watch component. Such doping does not provide uniform doping to the doped layer, and the doping thins out as the distance from the surface on which diffusion is performed increases. Note that such diffusion is faster in polycrystalline silicon than in single-crystal silicon due to the presence of particle boundaries in polycrystalline silicon.

[0041] Therefore, Figures 5 to 7 illustrate a method for doping the silicon component 11 shown in Figure 5, which can be used in the second modified embodiment described above. The component 11 is first coated with a 110 nanometer layer 12 of POCl3, as shown in Figure 6. Subsequently, a first diffusion of phosphorus into the polycrystalline silicon is carried out by at least one annealing treatment (e.g., a first annealing treatment at 900°C for 60 minutes followed by another annealing treatment at 1000°C for 60 minutes) continuing under a nitrogen atmosphere. The POCl3 layer is then removed by immersion in buffered hydrofluoric acid. The obtained result is shown in Figure 7. Such a method is 10 21 at / cm 3This makes it possible to form a highly doped layer 14. A second attempt to diffuse polycrystalline silicon helin was carried out by an annealing treatment lasting 4 hours. Thus, various modifications can be implemented depending on the desired result. Alternatively, polycrystalline silicon can also be doped by depositing a 200 nm layer of PSG (phosphosilicate glass) on the surface of the polycrystalline silicon, followed by a heat treatment at 1050°C for 1 hour under an argon atmosphere, and then removing the PSG layer by the RIE method. The PSG layer also similarly serves as a mask for the polysilicon etching step.

[0042] Of course, it is also possible to combine the two doping variations described above, and inductive doping can complement the first doping treatment performed in situ during the growth of the polycrystalline silicon layer.

[0043] It was noted that doping single-crystal silicon significantly alters the anisotropy of its coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), which was essentially isotropic before doping. This is why, when manufacturing hairsprings from doped single-crystal silicon, it was often recommended to vary the thickness of the windings along the length of the hairspring to compensate for this variation in the coefficient of thermal expansion.

[0044] Watch components made of doped polycrystalline silicon have the advantage of maintaining an isotropic coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), thereby reducing design constraints on watch components. In particular, the implementation of the present invention using polycrystalline silicon has the advantage of allowing broad design freedom for watch components while remaining capable of achieving significant insensitivity to temperature changes. In addition, it should be emphasized that it has been proven that doping polycrystalline silicon is easier than doping single-crystal silicon.

[0045] It should be noted that the doping methods described above are compatible with various levels of silicon doping, up to a high level that can achieve thermal compensation for clock components such as oscillators. For example, highly doped silicon can be used. High doping means that the silicon is doped to a certain degree. 18at / cm 3 or more, or 10 19 at / cm 3 or more, or 10 20 at / cm 3 This is understood to mean that it has been doped with the above ion concentrations.

[0046] However, it is also possible to select a lower level of doping to simplify or facilitate doping, while complementing the method by forming a silicon oxide (SiO2) surface layer that additionally contributes to the thermal compensation function, as described in Patent Document 1, for example. In a variation, the silicon oxide layer may be an internal layer, for example, sandwiched within the structure of the component, rather than an external layer. Thus, watch components more commonly include parts made of silicon oxide. In all cases, the implementation of doping has the advantage of allowing a reduction in the oxide layer or portion that would be necessary in a non-doped solution.

[0047] Therefore, as described above, the method may optionally include an additional oxidation step. As described above, the oxide layer or portion used has a small thickness and thus has the advantage of being able to be produced at a low oxidation temperature. Furthermore, the small thickness of the oxide layer or portion allows it to be produced using oxygen as a precursor instead of water vapor, which is used for thicker oxide layers, thereby enabling the formation of a high-quality oxide layer or portion while minimizing the growth time.

[0048] Therefore, from the above modifications, it is clear that the present invention can advantageously obtain a zero coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) value for a balance wheel / hairspring combination, and its oscillation will be independent of or substantially independent of heat. In other words, the hairspring of the present invention can be adapted to have a zero coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) for the balance wheel / hairspring oscillator that forms a functional assembly.

[0049] In summary, the method for manufacturing watch components of the present invention offers broad flexibility, as described above, while being simpler and less expensive than existing methods. This is because multiple embodiments allow for significant and easy improvement of the performance of watch components, particularly by addressing the problem of thermal compensation. This is because the method of the present invention proposes the manufacture of a thermally compensated watch component in a larger functional assembly containing multiple components, including the watch component, which together perform specific watch functions, such as an oscillator, as described above.

[0050] The method of the present invention is compatible with other processes known from the prior art. For example, the finishing step may consist of smoothing the surface of silicon, as described in Patent Document 3. This document discloses the implementation of a step of forming and then dissolving an oxide layer in order to make the silicon surface layer, which is defective and / or at risk of cracking, removable. Such a step makes it possible to round off uneven areas and reinforce the part. The solution finally consists of smoothing the surface of polycrystalline silicon.

[0051] The present invention also relates to a polycrystalline silicon watch component obtained by the method described above. The component advantageously includes a single, integral, indivisible part of a single casting derived from a single polycrystalline silicon growth step. The component may also include polycrystalline silicon doping, optionally high-concentration doping.

[0052] As described above, the present invention is particularly suitable for forming hairsprings, but it is also particularly suitable for other components shown in Figures 8 and 9, such as oscillator components with flexible guidance and components with flexible shapes that form elastic virtual pivots.

[0053] The present invention also relates to a clock oscillator, a clock movement, and a miniature clock, such as a wristwatch, which include at least one of the aforementioned clock components.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a watch component that allows for thermal compensation of a functional assembly including watch components, wherein the manufacturing method is: a. Provide a substrate (1) made of a semiconductor material or a metal material (E1), b. A polycrystalline or single-crystal silicon layer (5) is deposited on the substrate (1) (E2). c. Release the clock component (10) from the substrate (1) (E4) Includes at least one step, A method for manufacturing watch parts.

2. The additional step includes forming an oxide layer on the surface of the substrate (1) prior to the step (E2) of depositing the silicon layer (5), A method for manufacturing a watch component according to claim 1.

3. Prior to the release step (E4), the step (E3) includes etching the silicon layer (5) in particular by a DRIE method or a laser. A method for manufacturing watch components according to claim 1 or 2.

4. This includes a polishing step performed prior to the step (E3) of etching the watch component, A method for manufacturing watch components according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. Step (E2), which involves carrying out the deposition of the silicon layer, is continued until a height of 80 μm or more, or 100 μm or more, is reached. A method for manufacturing watch components according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. Step (E2), which involves carrying out the deposition of the silicon layer (5), consists of depositing the silicon by CVD. A method for manufacturing watch components according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. Step (E2), which involves carrying out the deposition of the silicon layer (5), consists of depositing the silicon by PVD. A method for manufacturing watch components according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

8. Step (E2), which involves carrying out the deposition of the silicon layer, includes simultaneous doping, which enables the growth of the doped silicon layer. A method for manufacturing watch components according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. The process includes a step of doping the silicon by dopant diffusion or ion implantation, following the deposition step (E2) or the etching step (E3). A method for manufacturing a watch component according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. A method for manufacturing a watch component according to claim 8 or 9, comprising the step of doping the silicon with a dopant selected from antimony Sb, arsenic As, or phosphorus P.

11. All or part of the volume of the watch components is 10 １８ at / cm ３ Above, or 10 １９ at / cm ３ Above, or 10 ２０ at / cm ３ Contains highly doped silicon with the above ion concentrations, A method for manufacturing a watch component according to any one of claims 8 to 10.

12. The additional step includes smoothing or adjusting the dimensions of the watch component by a series of oxidation and oxidative dissolution steps, A method for manufacturing watch components according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

13. The additional step includes oxidizing at least one surface of the watch component, A method for manufacturing watch components according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. Step (E1), which comprises providing a substrate (1) made of semiconductor material, comprises providing a substrate made of single crystal silicon. A method for manufacturing watch components according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

15. This enables the manufacture of flexible shaped arrangements that form oscillator hairsprings or elastic virtual pivots. A method for manufacturing watch components according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

16. A watch component for a watch, which is made entirely or in part of polycrystalline silicon, wherein the watch component includes a portion of polycrystalline silicon uniformly doped over its entire thickness, or the watch component includes a portion of polycrystalline silicon including a surface doping layer. Watch parts for watches.

17. To enable thermal compensation of the functional assembly in which the clock parts are intended to be arranged, 10 １８ at / cm ３ or more, or 10 １９ at / cm ３ or more, or 10 ２０ at / cm ３ or more, containing highly doped polycrystalline silicon with a high ion concentration A watch component for a watch according to claim 16.

18. A hairspring for an oscillator, or a component with a flexible shape arranged to form an elastic virtual pivot, or a component of an oscillator having flexible guidance. A watch component for a watch according to claim 16 or 17.

19. Silicon dioxide (SiO₂) ２ Including layers or parts made of A watch component for a watch according to any one of claims 16 to 18.

20. In particular, a balance wheel / hairspring type clock oscillator comprising a hairspring and a balance wheel as described in any one of claims 16 to 19, wherein the oscillator is thermally compensated. Clock oscillator.

21. In particular, a clock oscillator having flexible guidance, comprising a clock component having flexible guidance as described in any one of claims 16 to 19, wherein the oscillator is thermally compensated. Clock oscillator.

22. A clock, particularly a miniature clock, comprising a clock component for a clock as described in any one of claims 16 to 19.

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