The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 25, 2012
Filed:
Sep. 08, 2009
Jian LU, Ibaraki, JP;
Tsuyoshi Ikehara, Ibaraki, JP;
Takashi Mihara, Tokyo, JP;
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tokyo, JP;
Olympus Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An object of the present invention is to provide a detection sensor and a vibrator which can offer improved sensitivity. The present invention uses a scheme in which no piezoelectric layer, drive electrode, or the like is provided on the surface of a vibratorand in which the vibratoris driven by an actuatorprovided separately from the vibrator. The actuatoris of a cantilever type and is provided near a fixed endof the vibrator. Vibration of the actuatoris transmitted to the vibratorvia a coupling beam. Thus, vibration of the vibratoris prevented from being inhibited by a piezoelectric layer, a drive electrode, or the like. This improves the Q value of the vibratorand thus the sensitivity of the detection sensor. Furthermore, if the detection sensoris configured to offer a sensitivity equivalent to that of a conventional one, the size of the detection sensorcan be sharply reduced compared to that of the conventional one.