Citizen Watch Company, Ltd.

Citizen Holdings Company, Ltd.

Tomoo Ikeda

Izumi Yamamoto

Etsuo Yamamoto

Yoshimasa Shirai

Yosuke Abe

Keisuke Kigawa

Isao Arai

Akihiro Shioji

Hiroshi Miyauchi

Atsushi Murakami

Yoshiki Ono

Hiroshi Ikeda

Hisato Hiraishi

Takashi Maruyama

Tadashi Mitsuhashi

Toshiya Kubo

Masamitsu Nojima

Akiko Katoh

Kazuhiro Toriumi

Taichi Tsuchiya

Takuya Shirai

Yusaku Niida

Takashi Moriya

Maki Takizawa

Kazuo Murata

Yudai Hoshi

Yosuke Sasaki

Taku Asami

Sadao Horiuchi

Ryoichi Shima

Tomoyuki Nakazawa

Kouji Hiruma

Masayasu Uga

Yoshiyuki Nagashima

Provided are an electromechanical transducer including a light movable member that is easy to move and charged portions whose amount of electrostatic charge does not substantially change over time and a method for manufacturing such an electromechanical transducer. The electromechanical transducer using electrostatic interaction between a charged portion and a counter electrode to perform transduction between electric power and motive power includes a fixed substrate, a movable member being movable with a predetermined distance maintained between the fixed substrate and the movable member, the movable member having grooves in a surface facing the fixed substrate, the grooves being formed at intervals in a moving direction of the movable member, charged portions formed on the surface of the movable member so as to alternate with the grooves; counter electrodes disposed on a surface of the fixed substrate in the moving direction, the surface facing the movable member, and a cover layer containing copper and covering at least side walls of the movable member inside the grooves.

Electromechanical transducer and method for manufacturing same

By configuring a timepiece component to include an intermediate film provided on at least a portion of a surface of a base material formed by using a nonconductive first material as a main component and to include a buffer film stacked on the intermediate film and mainly composed of a second material having a tenacity higher than that of the first material, the timepiece component may be manufactured with high precision, the weight thereof may be reduced, and even when the base material is formed by using a brittle material such as silicon, the timepiece component becomes resistant to breakage and capable of exhibiting high strength when an impact is externally applied.

Timepiece component and method of manufacturing timepiece component

Provided is an electromechanical transducer including a lightweight and impact-resistant movable member. The electromechanical transducer using electrostatic interaction between charged portions and opposing electrodes to convert between electric power and motive power includes: a movable member having first electrodes and first grooves in a first surface thereof and having second grooves in a second surface opposite to the first surface; and a fixed substrate having second electrodes and facing the first surface of the movable member. One of the first electrodes and the second electrodes are charged portions carrying electrostatic charge while the other of the first electrodes and the second electrodes are opposing electrodes facing the charged portions. The first and second electrodes are each disposed at intervals in a moving direction of the movable member. The first and second grooves do not penetrate the movable member in a thickness direction thereof and are alternately disposed in the moving direction.

Electromechanical transducer

In manufacturing of a first electroformed component and a second electroformed component having portions fitted to each other into close contact, after the first electroformed component is formed, the first electroformed component is used as a portion of an electroforming mold to form the second electroformed component. Using the first electroformed component as a portion of the electroforming mold to form the second electroformed component, the shape of the first electroformed component is transferred to the second electroformed component. As a result, multiple types of components differing in shape may be accurately manufactured concurrently in a series of manufacturing steps.

Method of manufacturing electroformed components

A governor includes a balance spring including a base member made of silicon, for example, and a balance wheel. The balance spring includes a coating film of DLC that is applied to a surface of the silicon base member to improve the strength of the balance spring. A spring constant of the balance spring changes in accordance with the temperature change. A moment of inertia of the balance wheel changes in accordance with the temperature change. A change in an oscillation period due to the temperature change is suppressed by the change in the spring constant of the balance spring and by the change in the moment of inertia of the balance wheel.

Speed governor for timepiece

A piezoelectric device has a piezoelectric vibration element mounted in a package wherein the piezoelectric vibration element comprises two stick-like vibration legs; a central leg provided between the two vibration legs; a coupling portion that couples one end of each of the two vibration legs and one end of the central leg; and a protrusion portion that is coupled to another end of the central leg, has a predetermined angle, neither 0 nor 180 degrees, to the length direction of the central leg, and extends into a direction not interfering with the driving legs. In making the piezoelectric device smaller and thinner, this configuration avoids interference between a support point on the central leg, provided for supporting the vibration element, and conductive electrodes, improves insulation between the conductive electrodes, and reduces the generation of short-circuits between the conductive electrodes.

Package structure of a piezoelectric device mounting and supporting a piezoelectric vibration element

A crystal device that has stable vibration characteristics and that offers high reliability and high accuracy. The crystal device includes a first major face, which contains a portion of a base and a portion of a vibrating prong within a single plane, formed on the crystal plate, and a second major face, which contains another portion of the base and another portion of the vibrating prong within a single plane, formed on a crystal plate, wherein the first major face and the second major face have different outer shapes. The shapes of the first and second major faces can be produced by first forming mask layer patterns on a crystal substrate by exposure through different mask patterns and then etching the crystal substrate using the thus formed mask layer patterns.

Crystal device and method for manufacturing crystal device

After an external shape of a photoresist layer is patterned with use of a Cr film as an underlayer, i.e., a metal film to serve as an anticorrosive film that resists crystal etching, and an Au film as a surface layer, the Au film is etched. After groove portions are then patterned, the Cr film is etched. Since no degenerated-surface layer cannot be formed on the photoresist layer with an etchant for the Au film, the groove portions can be patterned without any degenerated-surface layer according to this method, so that high-accuracy groove portions can be formed.

Manufacturing method for vibrator

An object of the present invention is to provide a compact and highly reliable oscillator device having stable vibration characteristics, the object being achieved by constructing the oscillator device by bonding an oscillator in place by accurately positioning it, in a prescribed position and at a prescribed angle, inside a package. The oscillator device according to the present invention includes an oscillator having a vibrating prong and a base portion with a first reference portion, a package, a mounting base with a second reference portion provided inside the package, and a bonding material for fixing the oscillator to the mounting base by aligning the first reference portion with the second reference portion by utilizing a self-alignment effect occurring due to surface tension.

Oscillator device and method for manufacturing the device

An inclination of an inclined surface formed by working a ridge of a resonator is set to be within a predetermined angular range, whereby a leakage of vibration in the out-of-plane direction is reduced, the leakage of vibration being generated according to the detuning degree adjustment. In addition, a single laser beam is irradiated onto the ridge at an incident angle within a predetermined angular range, whereby a simple working on the inclined surface is established for the leakage vibration adjustment. A degree of the leakage vibration of the resonator is determined based on a relationship with the drift amount that is a ratio of the angular velocity change, and the inclination of the inclined surface is set to be within a predetermined angular range, thereby suppressing the drift amount.

Vibration gyro and the process of producing the same

A method for manufacturing quartz oscillators is provided which permits quartz oscillators having an oscillation frequency, as designed, to be obtained with small variation of individual oscillation frequency and with high reliability. The method for manufacturing quartz oscillators according to the present invention comprises the steps of forming a first resist layer () on one surface of a quartz substrate (), exposing said first resist layer to light of a first amount of exposure to form a patterned first masking layer (), forming a second resist layer () on the other surface of said quartz substrate, exposing said second resist layer to light of a second amount of exposure via said quartz substrate to form a patterned second masking layer () by using said first masking layer, and etching said quartz substrate to form quartz pieces () by using said patterned first masking layer and said patterned second masking layer.

Method for manufacturing quartz oscillator

A microstructured element comprising a transparent substrate-having a major surface; an opaque layer formed in a certain pattern on the major surface of the transparent substrate; and a microstructured layer formed on or above the major surface of the transparent substrate in a pattern corresponding to the certain pattern of the opaque layer. The microstructured layer includes a slanted lateral face extending along an edge of the opaque layer in a direction intersecting the major surface at an oblique angle. The microstructured element is produced through the steps of providing a photosensitive layer entirely on the major surface of the transparent substrate and the opaque layer; exposing the photosensitive layer to light transmitted through the transparent substrate from a back surface opposite to the major surface at an oblique angle with the major surface; and developing the photosensitive layer.

Microstructured element and method for producing the same

Tungsten film, method of manufacturing the same, and thin-film heater

An ink jet print head suitable for high-density printing. The ink jet print head comprises a plurality of nozzles for ejecting an ink, ink chambers, for passage and pressurization of the ink, communicating with the nozzles, and pressurizing means for creating a change in volume of the ink in the ink chamber to eject the ink through the nozzles. The ink chamber comprises a base plate member comprised of a transparent substrate having a predetermined form and dimension, a base wall member made of a material impermeable to light, the base wall member being provided above the base plate member in a pattern form according to the form of the ink chamber, and a partitioning member provided, above the base plate member, in areas not occupied by the base wall member. The partitioning member is formed from a partitioning member-forming, photosensitive material by photolithography using the base wall member pattern as a mask. A process of producing the above ink jet head is also disclosed.

Growing community of inventors

Tokorozawa, Japan

Tomoo Ikeda