Other

Tohoku University

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Kuraray Co., Ltd.

Denso Corporation

Japan Science and Technology Agency

Nippon Kayaku Kabushiki Kaisha

Anelva Corporation

Mitsubishi Cable Industries, Ltd.

Chiba University

Ball Semiconductor Corporation

The Nippon Signal Co., Ltd.

Masayoshi Esashi

Shuji Tanaka

Yutaka Nonomura

Takahiro Nakayama

Hitoshi Yamada

Ui Yamaguchi

Yoichi Haga

Mitsutoshi Makihata

Masanori Muroyama

Motohiro Fujiyoshi

Sakae Matsuzaki

Masaharu Ikeda

Katsuhiro Wakabayashi

Hirofumi Funabashi

Haruzo Miyashita

Yoshiyuki Hata

Kiyoo Shimada

Masayuki Matuo

Koichi Futsuhara

Satoshi Mori

Yukihiko Sawada

Tomoki Funakubo

Teruhisa Akashi

Yoshiteru Omura

Akihiko Teshigahara

Munemitsu Abe

Takao Iwaki

Norihiro Asada

Tadao Matsunaga

Nao Honda

Kenya Hashimoto

Takashi Abe

Masakazu Kato

Takashi Mizusaki

Risaku Toda

Mitsuhiro Yamashita

Hiroshi Abe

Toshihiko Takahata

Masanori Mizushima

Shigeo Maeda

Takashi Katsumata

Shinan Wang

Tadayuki Matsuo

Yasuyuki Kitamura

Takashi Mineta

A surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor includes a surface acoustic wave material and a comb-teeth electrode. The surface acoustic wave material is to be arranged at a place where the surface acoustic wave material is distorted by physical quantity such as stress. The comb-teeth electrode is arranged on the surface of the surface acoustic wave material to excite a surface acoustic wave to the surface acoustic wave material. The surface acoustic wave material has a sapphire board and a ScAlN film arranged on a surface of the sapphire board.

Surface acoustic wave sensor

An integrated device with high insulation tolerance is provided. A groove having an inclined side surface is provided between adjacent devices. When a side where an electronic circuit or MEMS device is mounted is a front surface, the groove becomes narrower from the front surface to a back surface because of the inclined surface. A mold material (insulating material) is disposed inside the groove, so that the plurality of devices are mechanically joined together, being electrically insulated from one another. A line member that establishes an electrical conduction between the adjacent devices is formed to lie along the side surface and the bottom surface of the groove. To lead the line out to the backside, the bottom surface of the groove has a hole, so that the line member is exposed to the backside from the hole.

Integrated device

A touch sensor system includes buses, a plurality of touch sensor devices disposed on the buses, and an information integrating device that is connected to all the buses and integrates information from the touch sensor device. The touch sensor device includes a sensor unit and a signal processing unit that transmits a sensor data signal generated by processing an analog sensor signal to the information integrating device through the bus. The signal processing unit includes a digital converting unit, a threshold evaluating unit that gives a start permission of the signal process when a sensor value exceeds a preset threshold, an ID adding unit that adds a transmitter identification number to the sensor signal, and a data transmitting unit that outputs the sensor data signal to a signal line of the bus. Fast responses are made possible without increasing the amount of data and host processing load while including many touch sensor elements.

Touch sensor system

A dynamic quantity sensor includes a force receiving portion, a first movable portion that rotates in a first rotational direction around a first rotational axis according to dynamic quantity in a first direction that the force receiving portion receives, and rotates in the first rotational direction around the first rotational axis according to dynamic quantity in a second direction different from the first direction that the force receiving portion receives; and a second movable portion that rotates in a second rotational direction around a second rotational axis according to the dynamic quantity in the first direction that the force receiving portion receives, and rotates in an opposite direction to the second rotational direction around the second rotational axis according to the dynamic quantity in the second direction that the force receiving portion receives.

Dynamic quantity sensor and dynamic quantity sensor system

Provided is a technique for packaging a sensor structure having a contact sensing surface and a signal processing LSI that processes a sensor signal. The sensor structure has the contact sensing surface and sensor electrodes. The signal processing integrated circuit is embedded in a semiconductor substrate. The sensor structure and the semiconductor substrate are bonded by a bonding layer, forming a sensor device as a single chip. The sensor electrodes and the integrated circuit are sealed inside the sensor device, and the sensor electrodes and external terminals of the integrated circuit are led out to the back surface of the semiconductor substrate through a side surface of the semiconductor substrate.

Sensor device having electrode draw-out portions through side of substrate

Provided are multiple normal stress detection sensor units capable of detecting a normal stress, and a sheet layer portion. The sheet layer portion includes an exterior sheet layer portion, a force detection sheet layer portion incorporating normal stress detection units, and an intermediary layer sandwiched between the exterior sheet layer portion and the force detection sheet layer portion. The exterior sheet layer portion and the force detection sheet layer portion include multiple protrusions protruding in directions opposed to each other, and are disposed such that the protrusions engage each other with the intermediary layer interposed therebetween. Each normal stress detection sensor unit includes a central portion detection sensor device disposed immediately below a central portion of the protrusion provided on the force detection sheet portion, and at least two edge detection sensor devices disposed immediately below edge portions of the protrusion provided on the force detection sheet portion.

Sheet-like tactile sensor system

A method for fabricating a micromachine component of resin comprising step (a) of forming a sacrifice layer on a substrate, step (b) of forming at least two photosensitive resin composition layers sequentially on the sacrifice layer, and performing photolithography of each photosensitive resin composition layer to form an air gap portion defining the circumferential edge portion of the micromachine component and an air gap portion where an internal structure of the micromachine component is constituted to form a multilayer structure, step (c) for depositing dry film resist on the multilayer structure of the cured photosensitive resin composition layer, and performing photolithography of the dry film resist layer to form a cured dry film resist layer in which an air gap portion defining the circumferential edge of a shroud layer and an air gap where the structure of the shroud layer is constituted are formed, and step (d) for separating the micromachine component having the multilayer structure of the cured photosensitive resin composition layer and the cured dry film resist layer from the substrate by removing the sacrifice layer.

Method for fabricating micromachine component of resin

A sensor system includes a first sensing device that includes a sensor, and first and second surrounding portions that surround the sensor at least partially, a second sensing device that comprises a sensor, and first and second surrounding portions that surround the sensor at least partially, wherein at least one of a combination of shapes of the first and second surrounding portions of the respective first and second sensing devices and a combination of physical properties of the first and second surrounding portions of the respective first and second sensing devices is configured such that a detection characteristic of the first sensing device is different from a detection characteristic of the second sensing device.

Sensor system

A driving mechanism using shape memory alloys comprises a first and a second shape memory alloys coils (), a pin-like drive member () connected to each of the shape memory alloys coils () extending in the axis direction, a substrate () having a wiring pattern () and a drive circuit () to supply current to the shape memory alloys coils (), and a magnetic latch part () to hold the drive member (), and the magnetic latch part () has a latch position in the axis direction of the drive member (), the drive circuit () selectively current-drives the first and the second shape memory alloys coils (), the driven first or second shape memory alloys coils () is heated and compressed to move the drive member () in the axis direction, and magnetic bodies () provided to the drive member () is magnetically fixed at the latch position, thereby fixed and held in the axis direction.

Driving mechanism using shape memory alloys including a magnetic latch

A method of making an active slender tube as implemented as a catheter, guide wire, or any other medical or non-medical micro-mechanical or -system or system's active micro-component is disclosed, comprising preparing an actuator made from a shape memory alloy (SMA) and forming at least a portion of a tubular body; disposing outside of SMA made actuator an elastically deformable outer skeleton coaxially therewith; and fastening together SMA made actuator and outer skeleton wire adjacent to non-insulated portions, step of fastening includes a step of passing an electric current through a lead wire while in an electroplating liquid to deposit a metal on lead wire and non-insulated portions from said liquid and thereby to electrically join SMA made actuator and outer skeleton together at corresponding areas.

Active slender tubes and method of making the same

An active guide wire () that can be used in a narrow blood vessel in a complicate vascular system such as intracerebral is disclosed as well as a method of making the same. The active wire comprises a bias coil spring (); an outer tube () having the bias coil spring () sheathed therewith and providing an external wall for the active wire guide (); and a shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator () in the form of a flat sheet anchored in and securely connected to the outer tube (), wherein the flat sheet SMA actuator () is shape memorized so as to bend in a direction of the thickness of the flat sheet and has a shape running zigzag longitudinally thereof. The actuator () is energized with an electric current and thereby heated to have its leading end bent.

Active guide wire and method of making the same

A capacitive vacuum sensor includes an elastic diaphragm electrode and a rigid fixed electrode opposite the elastic diaphragm electrode. An internal space is defined between the elastic diaphragm electrode and the rigid fixed electrode. The elastic diaphragm electrode deflects elastically in response to any change in the pressure of a gas applied on the elastic diaphragm electrode, and the capacitive vacuum sensor is responsive to any change in the capacitance between the elastic diaphragm electrode and the rigid fixed electrode that may occur in accordance with the deflection of the elastic diaphragm electrode so that it can measure the pressure of the gas. The vacuum sensor can include an anticorrosive diaphragm electrode that can resist the corrosive action of the reactive gas when it is exposed to such gas, and can be fabricated by the micromachining technology.

Anticorrosive vacuum sensor

A reflective movable diaphragm unit having diaphragm portions formed by a circular SiO film, a mesa portion and light-reflecting mirror portion of the SiO film disposed in the center, and a ring-shaped spacer and bonding layer formed of metal layers in the circumferential edge portion of the diaphragm portion , whereby a pressure sensor is formed.

Reflective moveable diaphragm unit and pressure sensor containing same

A pressure transducer designed to transform static pressure or dynamic pressure applied to a diaphragm into a corresponding electrical signal and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The transducer includes a fixed electrode formed in an upper surface of a substrate and a moving electrode provided in the diaphragm disposed above the fixed electrode through a cavity. The substrate has formed in the bottom thereof at least one hole which is used in a manufacturing process for removing a sacrificial layer formed between the diaphragm and the upper surface of the substrate in dry etching to form the cavity.

Pressure transducer and manufacturing method thereof

An active slender tube as implemented as a catheter, guide wire, or any other medical or non-medical micro-mechanical or -system or system's active micro-component is disclosed that has a simple structure which facilitates the active slender tube to be reduced in diameter and with the capability of being multi-functionalized. The slender tube is provided in its distal, active end portion in the form of &ldquo;J&rdquo; with a bending, a torsionally rotating, an extending and retracting and/or a stiffness control mechanism. These mechanisms are adapted to bend, torsionally rotate, extend/retract and adjust stiffness of, the active end portion, respectively, with precision. Each mechanism comprises an outer skeleton including a liner coil spring, and an SMA (shape memory alloy) made coil actuator disposed inside of the liner coil coaxially therewith and fastened thereto. In the extending and retracting mechanism, the SMA made actuator is fastened to the liner coil spring upon deformation to have a length varied from a length of the SMA made actuator in its natural state. In the torsionally rotating mechanism, the SMA made actuator is fastened to the liner coil spring upon deformation to have a coil diameter torsionally varied from a coil diameter of the SMA made actuator in its natural shape memory step. The stiffness control mechanism has an SMA made actuator in its natural shape memory state.

Growing community of inventors

Sendai, Japan

Masayoshi Esashi