Magnetostrictive Patents (Class 331/157)
  • Patent number: 11791082
    Abstract: A magnetic nano oscillating device, according to an embodiment of the present invention, comprises: a ferromagnetic layer disposed on a substrate; a non-magnetic conductive layer laminated on the ferromagnetic layer; an antiferromagnetic layer (or a ferrimagnetic layer) laminated on the non-magnetic conductive layer; and first and second electrodes respectively contacting both side surfaces of the ferromagnetic layer and the non-magnetic conductive layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Korea University Research and Business Foundation
    Inventors: Kyung-Jin Lee, Byong Guk Park, Dong-Kyu Lee
  • Patent number: 11513013
    Abstract: A stress distribution measurement device includes: a first magnetostrictive sensor and a second magnetostrictive sensor each including an excitation coil that excites AC magnetism in a measurement target using alternating current, and a detection coil to which alternating current is induced due to the AC magnetism flowing in the measurement target; an excitation circuit that applies a first excitation voltage to the excitation coil of the first magnetostrictive sensor and applies a second excitation voltage to the excitation coil of the second magnetostrictive sensor, the second excitation voltage having a phase or a waveform different from the first excitation voltage; and a detection circuit that includes a first detector that performs synchronous detection of current flowing in the detection coil of the first magnetostrictive sensor based on the first excitation voltage and a second detector that performs synchronous detection of current flowing in the detection coil of the second magnetostrictive sensor b
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masanori Kitaoka, Hisashi Endo, Hiroshi Yoshikawa, Toshihiro Yamada, Nobuhiro Kakeno
  • Patent number: 11289644
    Abstract: A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device includes a cylindrically-shaped pillar structure and a first ferromagnetic layer disposed on at least a portion of the pillar structure. The first ferromagnetic layer exhibits a magnetization that is changeable in the presence of at least one of an applied bias and heat. The MTJ device further includes a dielectric barrier disposed on at least a portion of the first ferromagnetic layer and a second ferromagnetic layer disposed on at least a portion of the dielectric barrier. The second ferromagnetic layer exhibits a magnetization that is fixed. The MTJ device is configured such that the first and second ferromagnetic layers and the dielectric barrier concentrically surround the pillar structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Kotb Jabeur, Daniel Worledge, Jonathan Z. Sun, Pouya Hashemi
  • Patent number: 11255714
    Abstract: An Apparatus for determining and/or monitoring at least one process variable of a medium in a container, comprising: a mechanically oscillatable unit a driving/receiving unit for exciting the mechanically oscillatable unit to execute mechanical oscillations by means of an electrical, exciting signal and for receiving and transducing the mechanical oscillations into an electrical, received signal a control unit, which is embodied to produce the exciter signal starting from the received signal and to set a predeterminable phase shift between the exciter signal and the received signal, an electromagnetically oscillatable unit, an active element for producing and/or maintaining electromagnetic oscillations in the electromagnetically oscillatable unit, which active element forms together with the electromagnetically oscillatable unit an oscillator, a coupling unit, which is embodied to tap an output signal from the active element, and an evaluation unit, which evaluation unit is embodied to determine the at least
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: ENDRESS+HAUSER SE+CO.KG
    Inventors: Thomas Blodt, Tobias Brengartner, Benjamin Mack, Peter Klofer
  • Patent number: 8836438
    Abstract: An oscillator element according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a magnetoresistive element having a magnetization free layer, magnetization fixed layer, and a tunnel barrier layer. Provided on the magnetization free layer are a protection layer and an electrode having a point contact section where the electrode is partially in electrical contact with the protection layers. An interlayer insulating film is provided between the electrode and the protection layer. The area of the interface between the magnetization free layer and the tunnel barrier layer is larger than the surface area of the point contact section. Moreover, a portion of the protection layer in contact with the interlayer insulating film has a smaller thickness in a surface normal direction than the portion of the protection layer in contact with the electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Anelva Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroki Maehara
  • Patent number: 8516278
    Abstract: A method and apparatus control power consumption in a portable terminal by cutting the direct current (DC) bias voltage. The power consumption control apparatus of a portable terminal is connected to the processors. The apparatus includes an oscillator, an inverter, and a DC bias voltage cutting unit. The oscillator creates signals to control the portable terminal to be operated in a sleep mode or a standby mode. The inverter receives the signals from the oscillator and outputs inverted signals to the processors. The DC bias voltage cutting unit cuts a DC bias voltage that is derived on a feedback line between an input port and an output port of the inverter, from the signals created by the oscillator. The apparatus and method can allow the portable terminal to reduce the power consumption when the processors are driven.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2013
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Hyung Gon Kim
  • Publication number: 20130093529
    Abstract: An oscillator element according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a magnetoresistive element having a magnetization free layer, magnetization fixed layer, and a tunnel barrier layer. Provided on the magnetization free layer are a protection layer and an electrode having a point contact section where the electrode is partially in electrical contact with the protection layers. An interlayer insulating film is provided between the electrode and the protection layer. The area of the interface between the magnetization free layer and the tunnel barrier layer is larger than the surface area of the point contact section. Moreover, a portion of the protection layer in contact with the interlayer insulating film has a smaller thickness in a surface normal direction than the portion of the protection layer in contact with the electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 5, 2012
    Publication date: April 18, 2013
    Applicant: CANON ANELVA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Canon Anelva Corporation
  • Patent number: 8373514
    Abstract: Wireless power transfer is received using a magneto mechanical system. A magneto mechanical system may include an array of magneto-mechanical oscillators, wherein each oscillator may comprise a magnetic symmetrical part and a suspension engaged to the magnetic part. The system may further include a coil formed around the array and electromagnetically coupled to the oscillators to produce an electric current caused by electromagnetic coupling with the oscillators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2013
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Nigel P. Cook, Stephen Dominiak, Hanspeter Widmer
  • Publication number: 20120075031
    Abstract: A radio-frequency oscillator incorporates a magnetoresistive device within which an electron current is able to flow. The device includes a stack including: a magnetic trapped layer, the magnetization of which is of substantially fixed direction; a magnetic free layer; and a non-magnetic intermediate layer-interposed between the free layer and the trapped layer. The oscillator also includes a mechanism capable of making an electron current flow in the layers constituting the stack and in a direction perpendicular to the plane which contains the layers. At least the free layer is devoid of any material at its center. The electron current density flowing through the stack is capable of generating a magnetization in the free layer in a micromagnetic configuration in the shape of a skewed vortex flowing in the free layer around the center of the free layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2011
    Publication date: March 29, 2012
    Inventors: Bernard Dieny, Marie-Claire Cyrille, Ursula Ebels, Liliana Prejbeanu
  • Publication number: 20110109397
    Abstract: This radiofrequency oscillator has a free layer (10) and/or a reference layer formed by a stacking of at least three ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic layers coupled to one another by an RKKY (Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida) coupling and among which at least two sub-layers are magnetically coupled to each other by an antiferromagnetic RKKY coupling.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 1, 2010
    Publication date: May 12, 2011
    Applicants: Commissariat a I'energie atomique et aux energies alternatives, Centre National De La Researche Scientifique
    Inventors: Bertrand Delaet, Ursula Ebels
  • Publication number: 20100134196
    Abstract: This radio-frequency oscillator includes a magnetoresistive device in which an electric current is able to flow. The magnetoresistive device includes a first magnetic layer, known as a “trapped layer”, whereof the magnetization is of fixed direction. The magnetoresistive device further includes a second magnetic layer known as a “free layer” and a non-magnetic layer, known as an “intermediate layer”, interposed between the first and second layer, known as the intermediate layer. The oscillator further includes means capable of causing an electron current to flow in said layers constituting the aforementioned stack and in a direction perpendicular to the plane which contains said layers. One of the three layers constituting the magnetoresistive device includes at least one constriction zone of the electric current passing through it.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2009
    Publication date: June 3, 2010
    Applicant: Commissariat A L'Energie Atomique
    Inventors: Marie-Claire Cyrille, Bertrand Delaet, Jean-Francois Nodin, Veronique Sousa
  • Patent number: 7570097
    Abstract: An electronic circuit comprises a delay circuit that with a chain of saw tooth delay stages (10a-d), coupled in a loop to form an oscillator for example. Each stage comprises an integrating circuit (104) and a current modulator (106) coupled to the integrating circuit (104). Each stage triggers a transition in the next stage when the integration result reaches a level defined by a reference voltage. Correlating circuitry (102, 30, 32, 34) is provided with current outputs to generate currents to the current modulators (106) and reference voltages for the saw tooth delay stages (10a-d). The reference voltages are generated at least partly from a common reference (102c), so that noise in the currents from the current modulators (106) and reference voltages is correlated in a way that at least partly cancels the effect of the noise on the delay time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2009
    Assignee: NXP B.V.
    Inventor: Johannes Petrus Antonius Frambach
  • Patent number: 7567194
    Abstract: With a delta sigma modulator of this invention, a plurality of clocks required to control a switching circuit can be easily generated and correlation among phases of the plurality of clocks can be automatically maintained while a frequency of the clocks is modified. A ring oscillator is formed of three delay circuits provided with differential amplifiers in the delta sigma modulator. A clock producing circuit produces the plurality of clocks to control the switching circuit by delaying three-phase clocks outputted from the ring oscillator. All the tail currents Ic in the differential amplifiers in the delay circuits in the ring oscillator and the tail currents Ic in the differential amplifiers in the delay circuits in the clock producing circuit are proportional to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2009
    Assignees: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Sanyo Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazuo Hasegawa
  • Publication number: 20080143451
    Abstract: A MEMS oscillator, such as a MEMS scanner, has an improved and simplified drive scheme and structure. Drive impulses may be transmitted to an oscillating mass via torque through the support arms. For multi-axis oscillators drive signals for two or more axes may be superimposed by a driver circuit and transmitted to the MEMS oscillator. The oscillator responds in each axis according to its resonance frequency in that axis. The oscillator may be driven resonantly in some or all axes. Improved load distribution results in reduced deformation. A simplified structure offers multi-axis oscillation using a single moving body. Another structure directly drives a plurality of moving bodies. Another structure eliminates actuators from one or more moving bodies, those bodies being driven by their support arms.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2008
    Publication date: June 19, 2008
    Applicant: Microvision Inc.
    Inventors: Randall B. Sprague, Jun Yan, Jason B. Tauscher, Wyatt O. Davis, John R. Lewis, Dean R. Brown, Thomas W. Montague, Chancellor W. Brown
  • Publication number: 20080129401
    Abstract: A high-frequency oscillator includes a high-frequency oscillation element having a magnetization pinned layer whose magnetization direction is pinned substantially in one direction, an oscillation layer formed of a magnetic material which generates a high-frequency oscillation phenomenon when a current is supplied, an intermediate layer provided between the magnetization pinned layer and the oscillation layer, the intermediate layer having an insulation layer and current paths which pass through the insulation layer in a thickness direction, and a pair of electrodes which supply a current perpendicularly to a plane of a stacked film including the magnetization pinned layer, the intermediate layer and the oscillation layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2008
    Publication date: June 5, 2008
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Hideaki Fukuzawa, Hiromi Yuasa, Hitoshi Iwasaki
  • Patent number: 6348846
    Abstract: A structure (and method) for tuning a resonant structure, includes a resonant structure including either a predetermined material coating provided on either a bar or a cantilever, or a lightly doped single crystal semiconductor material, and a circuit for providing a variable field adjacent the resonant structure, with the length or at least one of the elastic constants of the resonant structure changing with the application of the variable magnetic or electric field, respectively, thereby to selectively tune the resonant structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2002
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Robert Jacob von Gutfeld, James F. Ziegler
  • Patent number: 6132565
    Abstract: A magnetron assembly for sputter deposition and a method for using such assembly are described. The novel magnetron assembly is equipped with traversing magnets that are capable of moving in a radial direction toward and away from a center axis of the magnetron simultaneously with the rotational motion of the assembly. The traversing magnets enables a substantially uniform magnetic flux distribution to be formed which leads to not only a more uniform film deposition on a wafer surface, but also a more uniformly consumed metal target surface leading to a longer target life. The non-uniformity of a film deposited in a metal sputtering process frequently seen when using a conventional magnetron assembly is substantially eliminated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2000
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd
    Inventor: Chih-Lung Lin
  • Patent number: 4695766
    Abstract: A traveling wave tube made in accordance with this invention wherein the folded waveguide interaction circuit and the input/output transitions to standard waveguides are made of a single piece of metal such as oxygen-free, high conductivity copper. By manufacturing the folded waveguide circuit and the input/output circuit-to-standard waveguide transition out of one piece of material, VSWR on the order of 1.1:1 is expected for traveling wave tubes intended to operate at 94 GHz. Furthermore, this invention minimizes expensive tooling and labor while providing a higher yield of traveling wave tubes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 1986
    Date of Patent: September 22, 1987
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventor: John K. Waterman
  • Patent number: 4555680
    Abstract: A resonant-cavity type electronic tube having mechanically-operable tuning vanes associated with its resonant-cavity structure and disposed within an evacuable envelope. A support member is provided within the envelope for adjusting the tuning vanes relative to the resonant-cavity structure, so as to tune the frequency of resonance of the structure step-wise in accordance with a predetermined program. The tuning is carried out with a step motor, having a stator and armature with the envelope having a portion extending between the stator and armature for enclosing the armature within the evacuable space containing the tuning vanes and the resonant cavity structure. The armature is coupled to the tuning vanes for altering the position thereof relative to the resonant-cavity structure in fixed relation to the displacement of the armature relative to the stator. Electrical signals are coupled to the stator for establishing a programmable series of displacements of the armature relative to the stator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 1983
    Date of Patent: November 26, 1985
    Assignee: M/A-COM, Inc.
    Inventor: John E. Burr