Olympus Medical Systems Corporation

Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Olympus Corporation

Nec Corporation

Hideo Adachi

Katsuhiro Wakabayashi

Akiko Mizunuma

Kazuya Matsumoto

Yukihiko Sawada

Mamoru Hasegawa

Takuya Imahashi

Miyuki Murakami

Takanao Fujimura

Tatsuo Nagasaki

Hideo Tomabechi

Takeshi Mori

Akira Hasegawa

Takeaki Nakamura

Masaaki Hayashi

Koji Yamaya

Takao Okada

Shinji Yasunaga

Sunao Sato

Michio Sato

Yoshitaka Kamiya

Masayoshi Omura

Akira Suzuki

Hiroshi Ito

Hiroki Hibino

Yoshinori Ohta

Shinji Kaneko

Takashi Tsukaya

Hiroshi Kajimura

Koichi Matsui

Takashi Mihara

Tomonao Kawashima

Toshiaki Yamashita

Akira Murata

Soichi Ikuma

Takeo Asano

Tsugiko Takase

Koji Kambara

Ryo Ohta

Kiyoshi Nemoto

Shuji Otani

Kozaburo Suzuki

Naomi Shimoda

Kazuhisa Karaki

Hisanari Shimazu

Etsuko Omura

Masaaki Amikura

Ki Doh

Etsuko Omura, Legal Representative

Yoshiyuki Okuno

Kosei Tamiya

Ryo Ota

Yutaka Ohshima

Atsushi Yusa

Yoshikatsu Nagayama

Tsuguhisa Sasai

Jun Funazaki

Takashi Mizusaki

Yoshitake Saito

Masahiko Komuro

Nobutoshi Sekiguchi

Takeharu Nakazato

Kei Irie

Yu Kondo

Koji Kanbara

Yoshihiro Ishibashi

Michitaro Shozawa

Tatsuo Kaimai

Tsugio Takase

Hisashi Nishimura

Tomoo Kamakura

Atsushi Ohsawa

Yoshiyjki Okuno

Atsushi Osawa

Kousei Tamiya

Kozue Kurihara

Mizunuma Akiko

An inspection operator can perform a hammering inspection without operation to move an inspection device to a location to be inspected, and the hammering inspection can also be performed to the location to be inspected where a vehicle has difficulty in entering. An inspection system includes a flying device including a hammering inspection unit that performs an inspection and a flying unit that flies with the hammering inspection unit, a ground-side device that is fixedly installed at a position relative to a location to be inspected and detects a position of the flying device, and a flight instruction unit that controls the flying device in such a way that a forwarding direction of the flying device is a direction from the ground-side device to the location to be inspected based on the position of the flying device.

Inspection system, control device, and control method

A capacitive ultrasonic transducer (c-MUT) comprising a silicon substrate and a transducer element which comprises transducer cells, each of which is constituted by a first electrode equipped on the top surface of the silicon substrate, a second electrode placed opposite to the first electrode with a predetermined gap therefrom and a membrane for supporting the second electrode, wherein a trench is equipped between the adjacent transducers and a conductive film is formed in the trench.

Capacitive ultrasonic transducer and endo cavity ultrasonic diagnosis system using the same

An ultrasonic transducer according to the invention includes a flexible sheet, a rigid body portion including a lower electrode made of at least a thin-film conductive material on a surface of the flexible sheet, a dividing portion which divides the rigid body portion into segments, and a plurality of transducer elements including the divided rigid body portion, has at least one transducer cell composed of one of the segments, an insulating partition portion bonded to the segment, an air gap portion surrounded by the partition portion, an upper electrode opposed to the lower electrode extending to the partition portion to sandwich the air gap portion therebetween, and an upper insulating layer formed on the upper electrode, and includes an upper protection film which continuously covers a surface portion of the transducer elements and the dividing portion.

Ultrasonic transducer, method for manufacturing ultrasonic transducer, and ultrasonic endoscope

It becomes possible to obtain high sound pressure in a high frequency domain by a capacitive ultrasonic transducer which comprises a membrane on which one electrode is formed, a cavity constructed in its backface, and a substrate on which these are mounted and supported and on whose surface an electrode is provided, on a surface in an ultrasonic transmission and reception side, characterized in that the membrane comprises tow or more layers, and at least one layer of them comprises a high dielectric constant film.

Capacitive ultrasonic transducer, production method thereof, and capacitive ultrasonic probe

An acoustic transducer has a first transducer which transmits an acoustic primary wave having two frequency components, and a second transducer which, in order to receive a reflected wave of an acoustic secondary wave generated with propagation of the acoustic primary wave, is disposed so that a region for receiving the reflected wave is superimposed on the first transducer as seen along the direction of transmission of the acoustic primary wave.

Acoustic transducer and image generation apparatus

An ultrasonic transducer fabrication method including: depositing a conductive material on an insulating layer, partially etching the conductive material to form lower electrodes; depositing an insulating material to cover the lower electrodes to form a first insulating layer and depositing a sacrificial material thereon, performing etching, to create cavities and a channel-shaped sacrificial layer to communicate the cavities; depositing an insulating material on the first insulating layer to form a second insulating layer; partially etching the second insulating layer to form holes; etching and removing the sacrificial layer through the holes to form the cavities and channels; depositing a conductive material on the second insulating layer to plug the holes and form a conductive film; partially etching the conductive film to form upper electrodes and sealing portions which plug the holes; and forming a protective film on the second insulating layer to cover the upper electrodes and the sealing portions.

Method of fabricating an ultrasonic transducer

A capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT) device, comprising: a cMUT formed on a semiconductor substrate; a DC high-voltage generation unit that is provided on the semiconductor substrate and that is for generating a DC high-voltage signal to be superposed on a driving signal for the cMUT; a driving signal generation unit that is provided on the semiconductor substrate and that is for generating the driving signal; and a superposition unit that is provided on the semiconductor substrate and that is for branching the DC high-voltage signal output from the DC high-voltage generation unit and for superposing one of the branched DC high-voltage signals on the other of the branched DC high-voltage signals via the driving signal generation unit.

Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT) device and method of controlling the same

An ultrasound endoscope has an ultrasound probe which is disposed at a distal end side of a distal end rigid portion configuring a distal end portion out of a flexible tube portion, a bending portion and the distal end rigid portion configuring an insertion portion, and forms an ultrasound scanning surface having a normal line in a direction orthogonal to an endoscope insertion axis L, and a treatment instrument outlet of a treatment hole in the distal end rigid portion. The ultrasound probe is configured by a plurality of ultrasound transducers arranged in a convex circular arc shape, and a center of curvature of the plurality of ultrasound transducers is disposed at a proximal end side from the treatment instrument outlet.

Ultrasound endoscope

A capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT) device, includes: a cMUT obtained by processing a silicon substrate by using a silicon micromachining technique; and an oscillator circuit having the cMUT as a capacitor, and outputting a frequency modulation signal by modulating a frequency of an oscillation signal to be output on the basis of a change of capacitance of the cMUT.

Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT) device and in-body-cavity diagnostic ultrasound system

A ultrasonic transducer of the invention comprises: a transducer cell including a first electrode and a second electrode disposed separated from the first electrode by an air gap portion; and an electret for applying a potential difference between the first electrode and the second electrode. The electret is disposed in a region where at least a part thereof does not overlap with the transducer cell when viewed from a transmitting direction of ultrasonic waves.

Ultrasonic transducer, method of manufacturing ultrasonic transducer, ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and ultrasonic microscope

An ultrasound transducer includes a substrate, an ultrasound transducer cell placed on one surface of the substrate and having a lower electrode, a first gap portion placed on the lower electrode and an upper electrode placed on the first gap portion, a first conductive layer placed on the other surface of the substrate and electrically connected to one of the lower electrode and the upper electrode, an electret film placed on the first conductive layer, an insulating layer placed on the electret film, and a second conductive layer placed on the insulating layer and electrically connected to the one of the lower electrode and the upper electrode not electrically connected to the first conductive layer.

Ultrasound transducer and electronic device

This invention includes a first electrode which is fixed on a base, a vibration film which is disposed to oppose the first electrode with an air and vacuum portion between the vibration film and the first electrode, a second electrode which is supported by the vibration film and is connected to a predetermined potential, a ferroelectric which is electrically connected to the first electrode, and a driving portion that applies, to the first electrode, a driving signal which is a monopulse voltage signal and whose polarity is reversed every time the driving signal is outputted.

Ultrasound transducer and ultrasound diagnostic apparatus

An ultrasound transducer manufactured by using a micromachining process comprises: a first electrode into which a control signal for transmitting ultrasound is input; a substrate on which the first electrode is formed; a second electrode that is a ground electrode facing the first electrode with a prescribed space between the first and second electrodes; a membrane on which the second electrode is formed and which vibrates and generates the ultrasound when a voltage is applied between the first and second electrodes; a piezoelectric film contacting the membrane; and a third electrode electrically continuous to the piezoelectric film.

Ultrasound transducer manufactured by using micromachining process, its device, endoscopic ultrasound diagnosis system thereof, and method for controlling the same

An ultrasonic transducer according to the present invention includes: two or more ultrasonic transducer cells, each of which has a lower electrode, a first insulating layer placed on the lower electrode, a cavity placed on the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer placed on the cavity, and an upper electrode placed above the second insulating layer; channels which communicate the cavities with each other; the second insulating layer placed on the channels; holes formed in the second insulating layer placed on the channels; and sealing portions which seal the holes, where that part of the sealing portions which enters the channels is the same in cross-sectional shape as the holes.

Ultrasonic transducer, ultrasonic transducer fabrication method, and ultrasonic endoscope

An ultrasonic transducer cell according to the present invention includes: a substrate; a charge holding portion provided on the substrate; a lower electrode provided on the charge holding portion and used to input and output a signal; and a vibration membrane provided above the lower electrode to be separated from the lower electrode with a cavity, and configured to include at least an insulating film and an upper electrode provided on the insulating film.

Ultrasonic transducer cell

Growing community of inventors

Iruma, Japan

Hideo Adachi