Olympus Corporation

Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Symetrix Corporation

Gsk Corporation

Masayoshi Omura

Shinichi Imade

Eishi Ikuta

Hiroshi Fukuda

Akira Hasegawa

Katsuhiro Wakabayashi

Hideo Adachi

Yukihiko Sawada

Miyuki Murakami

Akiko Mizunuma

Takuya Imahashi

Kiyoshi Nemoto

Shuji Otani

Kozaburo Suzuki

Naomi Shimoda

Tohru Mizuguchi

Etsuko Omura, Legal Representative

Hitoshi Watanabe

Tatsuo Nagasaki

Hiroyuki Yoshimori

Kazuhisa Yanagisawa

Yoshihiro Ishibashi

Yoshiyjki Okuno

Koumei Hatano

Within the tip portion of a cylindrical shaped sheath a capacitive ultrasonic transducer which is an array type two-dimensionally arrayed on the outer surface of the cylindrical face is disposed. Capacitive ultrasonic transducer units employ m capacitive ultrasonic transducer elements arrayed in the longitudinal direction of the cylindrical face as a division unit, thereby providing an arrangement wherein the respective capacitive ultrasonic transducer units are readily disposed in the circumferential direction, whereby radial scanning or the like can be performed within a body cavity.

Capacitive ultrasonic probe device

An ultrasonic probe apparatus which applies a RF pulse signal with a DC bias signal superimposed thereon to c-MUTs and transmits/receives an ultrasound wave is configured such that a transmission control system includes bias regulators which regulate the voltage value of the DC bias signal, a reception control system has a plurality of different frequency band pass filtering characteristics including at least those for a low pass and high pass and a frequency band pass filtering processing section which can select at least one frequency band pass filtering characteristic from those frequency band pass filtering characteristics. The apparatus controls voltage settings of the bias regulators in conjunction with the selection of frequency band pass filtering characteristics of the frequency band pass filtering processing section.

Ultrasonic probe apparatus and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

An ultrasonic probe includes an ultrasonic transducer which is formed by sequentially laminating an acoustic lens, an acoustic matching layer, a piezoelectric element, and a backing member. The backing member arranged on a surface opposed side of the acoustic matching layer and the acoustic lens arranged to the piezoelectric element contains a synthetic rubber containing a mixture including acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR), ethylen-propylene terpolymer (EPDM), and at least inorganic fine powders.

Ultrasonic probe

A flexible shaft is inserted through a sheath constituting an insertion portion of an ultrasonic probe connected to an ultrasonic observation apparatus, an ultrasonic transducer driven to rotate, etc., is attached at the distal end portion thereof, and an ultrasonic wave can be transmitted and received through an acoustic window arranged around thereof. By using hydrocarbon-based oil having a kinematic viscosity of 20 mm/s as an acoustic medium for filling the surrounding of the ultrasonic transducer in the acoustic window, ultrasonic attenuation at high frequencies can be reduced, decrease of the capacity of the acoustic medium due to volatilization can be reduced, and decrease of the capacity of the acoustic medium due to volatilization is reduced.

Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic diagnostic equipment

Materials having different compositions are arranged to prepare a molded form in which the sound velocity characteristic is varied from high frequency to low frequency from the center toward the periphery. An ultrasonic wave-radiating face of the molded form and the back face of the ultrasonic wave-radiating face are arranged in parallel to each other to prepare a transducer in which the center region can transmit/receive high-frequency ultrasonic waves and the periphery region can transmit/receive low-frequency ultrasonic waves.

Ultrasonic transducer and method of manufacturing the same

An ultrasonic transducer is provided at the distal end of a sheath included in an inserting portion of an ultrasonic probe for performing ultrasonic diagnosis. The ultrasonic transducer can transmit and receive ultrasound through an acoustic window facing against the ultrasonic transducer through an acoustic medium filled around the ultrasonic transducer. At least the acoustic window is formed of a resin including a mixture of polyamide block and polyether ester block copolymer resin and polyurethane. Thus, multiple reflection, for example, can be reduced in the vicinity of the acoustic windows. Furthermore, the sheath portion may be formed of the same resin. Thus, the sheath portion can be inserted through an endoscope channel, for example, smoothly with less buckling.

A ferroelectric memory device according to the present invention includes memory cells. Each memory cell is constructed such that a lower electrode is formed on a silicon substrate, a ferroelectric capacitor having a hysteresis characteristic with at least two non-linear characteristic portions is formed on the lower electrode, and an upper electrode is formed on the ferroelectric capacitor. The memory cells are arranged in a matrix and are provided with a column switching controller and a row switching controller. These controllers are connected via a switching circuit to a write circuit, a read circuit and a detector. When a voltage lower than a coercive voltage is applied to the memory cells, the data storage states of the memory cells are discriminated on the basis of the difference in differential dielectric constants between '1' and '0', thus reading out the data in a non-destructive manner. In the ferroelectric memory device with this structure, an asymmetrical amplitude waveform voltage of a positive voltage lower than a coercive voltage and a negative voltage of an amplitude smaller than the amplitude of the positive voltage is applied to the ferroelectric film on which data is recorded, thereby reading out the data in a non-destructive manner.

Ferroelectric memory device

A first ferroelectric capacitor has a ferroelectric member having a film thickness and an area, and electrodes formed on both major surfaces of the member, respectively. Thus, the first ferroelectric capacitor has a polarization. A second ferroelectric capacitor has a ferroelectric member having a film thickness and an area, and electrodes formed on both major surfaces of the member, respectively. Thus, the second ferroelectric capacitor has a polarization. The first and second ferroelectric capacitors are connected parallel to each other, thereby forming a ferroelectric memory device. Since the ferroelectric memory device uses the synthesized hysteresis characteristics of the two ferroelectric capacitors of different coercive field values, it can use multi-value data, and perform nondestructive readout of data stored in the capacitors.

Nondestructive readout-type ferroelectric memory device having twisted

An acoustic lens system is constructed so that at least one surface of acoustic lenses constituting the acoustic lens system is an aspherical surface, which has such a shape that curvature moderates progressively in separating from the axis of the acoustic lens system, and an acoustic beam stop is provided therein. As a result, aberrations can be favorably corrected even when the angle of view and the numerical aperture are increased and this brings about the acoustic lens system suitable for an objective lens of an acoustic system for securing an image of an object having a two-dimensional size in particular.

Acoustic lens system

The acoustic lens system is used for ultrasonic imaging in an ultrasonic system which displays an image of an object while transmitting ultrasonic waves and receiving the ultrasonic waves reflected from the object, and has a half field angle .omega. expressed as follows: ##EQU1## wherein the reference symbol v.sub.0 represents the velocity of sound in the medium located on the incidence side of the first lens surface and the reference symbol v.sub.1 designates the velocity of sound in the medium located on the emergence side of the first lens surface. Accordingly, the acoustic lens system according to the present invention is remarkably excellent in the performance thereof in respect of field angles, aberrations, aperture angles, attenuation, etc., and has an advantage to permits further reducing acoustic attenuation and preventing spurious images from being formed due to multiple reflections by arranging antireflection films on the lens surfaces.

An acoustic lens system is constructed so that at least one surface of acoustic lenses constituting the acoustic lens system is an aspherical surface, which has such a shape that curvature moderates progressively in separating from the axis of the acoustic lens system, and an acoustic beam stop is provided therein. As a result, aberrations can be favorable corrected even when the angle of view and the numerical aperture are increased and this brings about the acoustic lens system suitable for an objective lens of an acoustic system for securing an image of an object having a two-dimensional size in particular.

A ferroelectric memory includes a ferroelectric thin film having first and second surfaces opposite to each other, a first electrode assembly having a plurality of stripe electrodes arranged in parallel on the first surface side of the ferroelectric thin film, a second electrode assembly having a plurality of stripe electrodes arranged in parallel on the second surface side of the ferroelectric thin film to intersect the stripe electrodes of said first electrode assembly, first and second common electrodes arranged separately from the end portions of the respective first and second electrode assemblies to extend in respective directions in which the stripe electrodes of the first and second electrode assemblies are arranged, and selecting sections for respectively connecting the first and second electrode assemblies to the first and second common electrodes and selectively activating at least one of the stripe electrodes of each of the first and second electrode assemblies.

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Saitama, Japan

Masayoshi Omura