Seiko Epson Corporation

Ube Industries, Inc.

Seiko Espon Corporation

Masami Murai

Tsutomu Nishiwaki

Koji Sumi

Kouji Sumi

Xin-Shan Li

Maki Ito

Masato Shimada

Takamitsu Higuchi

Setsuya Iwashita

Hiroyuki Kamei

Minoru Usui

Jun Amako

Tomio Sonehara

Tsutomu Ota

Li Xin-Shan

Toshinao Shinbo

Hiromu Miyazawa

Satoru Miyashita

Shiro Yazaki

Tetsushi Takahashi

Soichi Moriya

Hong Qiu

Hironobu Kazama

Toshihiko Anno

Takeshi Yasoshima

Shigeaki Seki

Masao Takeuchi

Masakazu Shinozuka

Souichi Moriya

Kazuo Hashimoto

Miyuki Muramoto

Toshiaki Yokouchi

Kazuhiko Fujimori

Tomokazu Yoshida

A timepiece wheel train includes a rotating body with a shaft unit, a bearing unit that rotatably supports the shaft unit of the rotating body, and a lubricating oil in which powder from a diamond-like carbon film is dispersed disposed between the shaft unit and the bearing unit.

Timepiece wheel train and timepiece

A liquid jetting head using a piezoelectric element that is capable of obtaining sufficient displacement through the application of a driving voltage is provided. In the liquid jetting head, which comprises a substrate formed with a pressure chamber, a diaphragm formed on the substrate, and a piezoelectric thin film element formed on the diaphragm, the diaphragm bends in convex form toward the pressure chamber side, and the amount by which the diaphragm bends is no more than 0.4% of the width of the pressure chamber.

Liquid ejection head

A method of manufacturing an actuator device configured to prevent separation of a vibration plate and to enhance durability and reliability, and a liquid-jet apparatus are provided. The method includes the steps of forming a vibration plate on one surface of a substrate, and forming a piezoelectric element having a lower electrode, a piezoelectric layer, and an upper electrode on the vibration plate. The step of forming a vibration plate at least includes an insulation film forming step of forming an insulation film made of zirconium oxide by forming a zirconium layer on the one surface side of the substrate in accordance with a sputtering method and subjecting the zirconium layer to thermal oxidation by inserting the substrate formed with the zirconium layer to a thermal oxidation furnace heated to a temperature greater than or equal to 700&#xb0; C. at a speed greater than or equal to 200 mm/min.

Method of manufacturing actuator device for ink jet head

Disclosed are a piezoelectric element in which crystallinity of a piezoelectric layer is improved, and which has uniform characteristics of the piezoelectric layer, a liquid-jet head using the piezoelectric element as well as a liquid-jet apparatus. The piezoelectric element includes: a lower electrode provided to one surface side of a substrate; a piezoelectric layer which is made of a piezoelectric material containing lead (Pb), zirconium (Zr) and titanium (Ti), and which is provided above the lower electrode; and an upper electrode provided above the piezoelectric layer, and in the piezoelectric element, a relative permittivity of the piezoelectric layer is 750 to 1500 and a coercive electric field of the piezoelectric layer is 10 to 40 kV/cm.

Piezoelectric element, liquid-jet head using piezoelectric element and liquid-jet apparatus

The present invention is to provide a piezoelectric element, a method of manufacturing the same, a liquid-jet head, a method of manufacturing the same, and a liquid-jet apparatus, all of which prevent an inter-layer detachment in a lower electrode. A method of manufacturing a piezoelectric element, comprising the steps of: forming, on a substrate, a lower electrode configured of a plurality of layers which includes a metal layer with a limit thickness of 20 nm at least in its uppermost layer, the metal layer essentially containing iridium; forming a multi-layered piezoelectric layers by means of performing a piezoelectric film forming step a plurality times, the piezoelectric film forming step including an applying step of applying a piezoelectric precursor film onto the lower electrode, a drying step of drying the piezoelectric precursor film which has been applied thereon through the applying step, a degreasing step of degreasing the piezoelectric precursor film which has been dried through the drying step, and a baking step of making the piezoelectric precursor film, which has been degreased through the degreasing step, into a piezoelectric film by baking and crystallizing the piezoelectric precursor film; and forming an upper electrode on the piezoelectric layer.

Piezoelectric element, method of manufacturing the same, liquid-jet head, method of manufacturing the same, and liquid-jet apparatus

The present invention provides a piezoelectric thin film element with superior piezoelectric properties in which the condition of the crystal of the piezoelectric thin film is appropriately controlled, and a manufacturing method thereof, as well as a inkjet recording head, inkjet printer, or other liquid ejecting apparatus employing the same. The piezoelectric thin film elementcomprises a top electrode, a bottom electrode, and a piezoelectric thin filmformed between the top electrodeand the bottom electrode, wherein the piezoelectric thin filmis structured so as to comprise a first layerlocated nearest to the bottom electrode and second layers (-) that are located nearer to the top electrode than the first layer and that each have a thickness greater than that of the first layer

Method and manufacturing a piezoelectric thin film element

A manufacturing method of a liquid jet head having increased the durability and reliability thereof by preventing delamination of a vibration plate is provided. At least the following two steps are included: a vibration plate forming step which includes at least a step of forming a zirconium layer on one side of a passage-forming substrate by sputtering so that a degrees of orientation to a (002) plane of the surface becomes equal to 80% or more, as well as forming an insulation film made of zirconium oxide and constituting a part of the vibration plate by subjecting the zirconium layer to thermal oxidation; and a piezoelectric element forming step of forming piezoelectric elements on the vibration plate.

Manufacturing method of actuator device and liquid jet apparatus provided with actuator device formed by manufacturing method of the same

Provided are an actuator device, a liquid jet head and a liquid jet apparatus, which can improve reliability by preventing peeling-off of respective films forming a vibration plate. The vibration plate has a first oxide film (elastic film) formed on the one surface of a passage-forming substrate, and a second oxide film (insulation film) formed on the first oxide filmby use of a sputtering method. In only a part of an interface between the first and second oxide filmsand, an altered layer is formed which has a first element that is a constituent element other than oxygen included in the first oxide filmand a second element that is a constituent element other than oxygen included in the second oxide filmand which is a layer in which a proportion of the first element is lower than that in the first oxide filmand a proportion of the second element is lower than that in the second oxide film. A proportion of the altered layer in the entire interface between the first and second oxide filmsandis not more than 10%.

Actuator device, liquid jet head and liquid jet apparatus

A method for manufacturing a liquid jetting head includes manufacturing a piezoelectric element having consistently high piezoelectric characteristics that obtains a degree of orientation that is suitable for a piezoelectric thin film, that is stable, and that has good reproducibility. A Ti film is formed on a layered bottom electrode, piezoelectric material layers constituting a piezoelectric thin film are formed in a plurality of cycles of layer formation, and a top electrode is formed on the piezoelectric thin film to produce a piezoelectric element. When the piezoelectric material layers are formed, the annealing temperature of the first cycle of layer formation is set higher than the annealing temperature of the other cycles of layer formation. In addition, the annealing time of the first cycle of layer formation is made longer than the annealing time of the other cycles of layer formation. The degree of orientation in theplane is thereby increased, and the bottom electrode can be prevented from undergoing oxidation or Pd diffusion.

Method for manufacturing a liquid jetting head

A step of forming a vibration plate includes a step of forming an insulation film in order to cause the surface roughness Ra of the insulation film to be in the range of 1 nm to 3 nm: the insulation film being made of zirconia which has been obtained by depositing a zirconium layer, and accordingly by the thermally oxidizing the zirconium layer at a predetermined temperature, and the insulation film constituting the uppermost surface of the vibration plate. In addition, a step of forming a piezoelectric elements includes: a step of applying titanium (Ti) onto a lower electrode by use of a sputtering method, and of forming a seed titanium layer thereon; and a step of forming a piezoelectric precursor film by applying a piezoelectric material onto the seed titanium layer, and of forming a piezoelectric layer by baking, and crystallizing, the piezoelectric precursor layer.

Method of manufacturing an actuator device

Provided are a piezoelectric element and a liquid-jet head using the same, in which favorable crystallinity can be obtained with improved uniformity, breakage of a piezoelectric film can be prevented, thereby providing stable displacement properties. The piezoeletric element includes a lower electrode, a piezoelectric film formed on the lower electrode, and an upper electrode formed on the piezoelectric film. The piezoelectric film in turn includes a lower layer portion having column crystals, and an upper layer portion having column crystals which are continuous from those in the lower layer portion and having sizes larger than those in the lower layer portion.

Piezoelectric element and liquid jet head using the piezoelectric element

A piezoelectric actuator comprising an optimum layer structure when (100) orientation strontium ruthenate is used as a bottom electrode is provided. This piezoelectric actuator comprises a diaphragmthat is constituted by (100) orientation yttria-stabilized zirconia, CeO, or ZrO, that is grown epitaxially on a (100) orientation Si substrate, a buffer layerformed on the diaphragm and constituted by (001) orientation REBaCuO, a bottom electrodeformed on the buffer layer and constituted by (100) orientation strontium ruthenate, a piezoelectric layerformed on the bottom electrode and constituted by (100) orientation PZT, and a top electrodeformed on the piezoelectric layer.

Piezoelectric actuator and liquid jet head

An intermediate film () is formed on a substrate (), a bottom electrode () is formed on top of this intermediate film, a ferroelectric film () or piezoelectric film () is formed on top of this bottom electrode by an ion beam assist method, and a top electrode () is formed on top of this ferroelectric film or piezoelectric film. The ferroelectric film or piezoelectric film is formed by PZT, BST or a relaxer material. As a result of the use of an ion beam assist method in the formation of any one of the intermediate film, bottom electrode, ferroelectric film or piezoelectric film, a piezoelectric device or ferroelectric device which has a piezoelectric film or ferroelectric film with an in-plane orientation can be manufactured with good efficiency.

Piezoelectric device, liquid jetting head, ferroelectric device, electronic device and methods for manufacturing these devices

A piezoelectric element with stable and excellent piezoelectric properties is made by: a step of forming a diaphragm() on a substrate(S); a step of forming a bottom electrodeon the diaphragm(S); a step of forming a first piezoelectric layeron the bottom electrode(S); a step of patterning both the piezoelectric layerand the bottom electrode(S); a step of forming a second piezoelectric layer on the piezoelectric layerand on the diaphragmto mature a piezoelectric film(S); and a step of forming a top electrodeon the piezoelectric film(S).

Method for the manufacture of a piezoelectric element

A liquid-ejecting apparatus according to which targeted good characteristics can be obtained, and moreover the scope for material selection can be broadened is provided. The liquid-ejecting apparatus contracts a pressure chamber and thus ejects liquid through application of voltage to a piezoelectric body, and is such that the driving waveform applied to the piezoelectric body during the liquid ejecting operation comprises a high potential period (a) in which a voltage exhibiting an electric field strength exceeding the coercive electric field of the piezoelectric body is applied, and a reverse potential period (a) in which a voltage such that the potential becomes of the opposite polarity to the polarity in the high potential period or the potential becomes zero is applied.

Growing community of inventors

Nagano-ken, Japan

Masami Murai