Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Chienliu Chang

Atsushi Kandori

Masao Majima

Yoshitaka Zaitsu

Ayako Kato

Takahiro Akiyama

Makoto Takagi

Kenji Tamamori

Yasuhiro Soeda

Kenichi Nagae

Takahiro Ezaki

Hironobu Maeda

An electromechanical transducer of the present invention includes a first electrode, a vibrating membrane formed above the first electrode through a gap, a second electrode formed on the vibrating membrane, and an insulating protective layer formed on a surface of the second electrode side. A region where the protective layer is not formed is present on at least part of a surface of the vibrating membrane.

Electromechanical transducer and method for manufacturing the same which suppresses lowering of sensitivity while a protective layer is formed

To suggest an electromechanical transducer device with a high S/N ratio, an electromechanical transducer device includes a first substrate; electromechanical transducer elements two-dimensionally arrayed on a front surface of the first substrate and configured to provide conversion between acoustic waves and electric signals; an electric wiring substrate that is a second substrate electrically connected with a back surface of the first substrate; a first acoustic matching layer provided between the first substrate and the second substrate; an acoustic attenuating member arranged on a back surface of the second substrate; and a second acoustic matching layer provided between the second substrate and the acoustic attenuating member.

Electromechanical transducer device and analyte information acquiring apparatus

A structure having a plurality of conductive regions insulated electrically from each other comprises a movable piece supported movably above the upper face of the conductive region, the movable piece having an electrode in opposition to the conductive region, the structure being constructed to be capable of emitting and receiving electric signals through the lower face of the conductive region, the plural conductive regions being insulated by sequentially connected oxidized regions formed from an oxide of a material having through-holes or grooves.

Structure having plural conductive regions and process for production thereof

An element array comprises a plurality of elements having a first electrode and a second electrode with a gap therebetween; the first electrode is separated for each of the elements by grooves, an insulating connection substrate is bonded to the first electrode, and wirings are provided from the respective first electrodes through the connection substrate to the side opposite to the first electrodes.

Element array with a plurality of electromechanical conversion devices

A structural member having a plurality of conductive regions electrically insulated from each other, in which the plurality of conductive regions are electrically insulated from each other by continuous oxidized regions, and the oxidized regions are each formed of an oxide made of a material having a plurality of through holes or trenches formed therein.

Structural member having a plurality of conductive regions

An acoustic-wave sensor () is constructed by a membrane () adapted to be displaced by an acoustic wave, a first waveguide () for transmitting light therein, an optical coupling part () to which the light transmitted through the first waveguide () is adapted to be optically coupled, and a second waveguide () through which the light coupled from the optical coupling part () transmits. When the membrane () is displaced by its reception of the acoustic wave, at least one of an optical coupling coefficient between the first waveguide () and the optical resonator () and an optical coupling coefficient between the second waveguide () and the optical resonator () is changed to output a corresponding optical signal.

Acoustic-wave sensor, acoustic-wave sensor array, and ultrasonic imaging apparatus

Element array, electromechanical conversion device, and process for producing the same

A capacitive electromechanical transducer includes a substrate, a cavity formed by a vibrating membrane held above the substrate with a certain distance between the vibrating membrane and the substrate by supporting portions arranged on the substrate, a first electrode whose surface is exposed to the cavity, and a second electrode whose surface facing the cavity is covered with an insulating film, wherein the first electrode is provided on a surface of the substrate or a lower surface of the vibrating membrane and the second electrode is provided on a surface of the vibrating membrane or a surface of the substrate so as to face the first electrode. In this transducer, fine particles composed of an oxide film of a substance constituting the first electrode are arranged on the surface of the first electrode, and the diameter of the fine particles is 2 to 200 nm.

Method for manufacturing capacitive electromechanical transducer

An electromechanical transducer includes a vibration membrane provided with a first electrode, a substrate provided with a second electrode, and a support member adapted to support the vibration membrane in such a manner that a gap is formed between the vibration membrane and the substrate, with the first and second electrodes being arranged in opposition to each other, wherein a part of the vibration membrane and a part of the substrate are in contact with each other at a contact region, and another region of the vibration membrane other than the contact region is able to vibrate; an overlap region is provided between the first electrode and second electrode in the contact region, and at least one of these electrodes has a through portion formed therethrough in at least a part of the overlap region, and a plurality of protrusions formed within the gap and on at least one of the vibration member and the support member, wherein the contact region is surrounded by the plurality of protrusions.

Electromechanical transducer and manufacturing method therefor

In an electromechanical transducer which includes a vibration membrane provided with an upper electrode, a substrate provided with a lower electrode, and a support member adapted to support the vibration membrane in such a manner that a gap is formed between the vibration membrane and the substrate with these electrodes being arranged in opposition to each other, it is constructed such that a part of the vibration membrane and a region of the substrate are kept in contact with each other without application of an external force, and a remaining region of the vibration membrane other than its region in which the contact state is kept is able to vibrate.

An oscillator device that includes a movable body oscillatably supported about a rotation axis, wherein the movable body is separated into plural electrically separated conductive regions in the thickness direction, and at least one of the plural electrically separated conductive regions in the thickness direction further has plural electrically separated conductive regions.

Oscillator device

In a method of manufacturing a capacitive electromechanical transducer, a first electrode () is formed on a substrate (), an insulating layer () which has an opening () leading to the first electrode is formed on the first electrode (), and a sacrificial layer is formed on the insulating layer. A membrane () having a second electrode () is formed on the sacrificial layer, and an aperture is provided as an etchant inlet in the membrane. The sacrificial layer is etched to form a cavity (), and then the aperture serving as an etchant inlet is sealed. The etching is executed by electrolytic etching in which a current is caused to flow between the first electrode () and an externally placed counter electrode through the opening () and the aperture of the membrane.

Growing community of inventors

Kawasaki, Japan

Chienliu Chang