Patents Represented by Attorney Robinson Intellectual Property Law Office, P.C.
  • Patent number: 8158491
    Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a highly sophisticated functional IC card that can ensure security by preventing forgery such as changing a picture of a face, and display other images as well as the picture of a face. An IC card comprising a display device and a plurality of thin film integrated circuits; wherein driving of the display device is controlled by the plurality of thin film integrated circuits; a semiconductor element used for the plurality of thin film integrated circuits and the display device is formed by using a polycrystalline semiconductor film; the plurality of thin film integrated circuits are laminated; the display device and the plurality of thin film integrated circuits are equipped for the same printed wiring board; and the IC card has a thickness of from 0.05 mm to 1 mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toru Takayama, Junya Maruyama, Yuugo Goto, Yumiko Ohno, Mai Akiba
  • Patent number: 8159449
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a display device in which a problem of light leakage from a liquid crystal element in black display is reduced or overcome and the contrast is improved. It is another object to provide a pixel circuit having a function to control a lighting state of a backlight based on each pixel. These objects are achieved by turning off a light-emitting element in display of a black gray scale, and by providing a light-emitting element in each pixel and providing, in a pixel circuit, a function to individually control lighting and non-lighting of the light-emitting element depending on a gray scale to perform display. When a backlight is provided in each pixel, a light-emitting element that is a backlight is turned off when a black gray scale is displayed, whereby reduction in contrast due to light leakage from a liquid crystal element can be prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hajime Kimura, Yasunori Yoshida, Hideaki Shishido, Atsushi Umezaki, Makoto Yanagisawa, Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 8159088
    Abstract: In order to increase the continuous operating time of a display device driven by a battery or the like, and a portable information terminal using the same, the volume and weight of the battery are increased. Thus, there arises a trade-off between the increased capacity of the battery and the portability of the device/terminal. Therefore, the invention provides a display device with portability ensured, which is capable of operating continuously for long periods and a portable information terminal using the same. In the display device, TFTs and an RFID tag are formed over the same insulating substrate. The RFID tag detects signals from a reader/writer, and generates DC power based on the signals. While the RFID tag is detecting signals, the display device is driven by the DC power generated in the RFID tag.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshifumi Tanada, Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 8157232
    Abstract: A display panel driving mechanism for electronic device supports a lower side of a display panel (1), which is arranged on a front plane of an electronic device, to be freely turned around a first shaft (5a) which moves by following a slider (4) driven in to and fro directions. The mechanism shifts a second shaft (9a), which is provided on a member (9) attached on an upper side of the display panel (1), along a guide groove (2a) provided on a member (2) fixed to a case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Kenwood
    Inventor: Keiji Kasai
  • Patent number: 8153506
    Abstract: It is provided a contacting method when a plurality of films to be peeled are laminating. Reduction of total layout area, miniaturization of a module, weight reduction, thinning, narrowing a frame of a display device, or the like can be realized by sequentially laminating a plurality of films to be peeled which are once separately formed over a plastic film or the like. Moreover, reliable contact having high degree of freedom is realized by forming each layer having a connection face of a conductive material and by patterning with the use of a photomask having the same pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Aya Anzai, Junya Maruyama
  • Patent number: 8148818
    Abstract: A conductive shield covering a semiconductor integrated circuit prevents electrostatic breakdown of the semiconductor integrated circuit (e.g., malfunction of a circuit and damage to a semiconductor element) due to electrostatic discharge. Further, with use of a pair of insulators between which the semiconductor integrated circuit is sandwiched, a highly reliable semiconductor having resistance can be provided while achieving reduction in the thickness and size. Moreover, also in the manufacturing process, external stress, or defective shapes or deterioration in characteristics resulted from electrostatic discharge are prevented, and thus the semiconductor device can be manufactured with high yield.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Yoshiaki Oikawa, Hironobu Shoji, Yutaka Shionoiri, Kiyoshi Kato, Masataka Nakada
  • Patent number: 8148236
    Abstract: An object is to provide a system-on-panel display device including a display portion and a peripheral circuit for controlling display on the display portion over one substrate, which can operate more accurately. The display device has a display portion provided with a pixel portion including a plurality of pixels and a peripheral circuit portion for controlling display on the display portion, which are provided over a substrate. Each of the display portion and the peripheral circuit portion includes a plurality of transistors. For semiconductor layers of the transistors, single crystal semiconductor materials are used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kei Takahashi, Satoshi Murakami, Suguru Ozawa
  • Patent number: 8148743
    Abstract: In the present invention, a semiconductor film is formed through a sputtering method, and then, the semiconductor film is crystallized. After the crystallization, a patterning step is carried out to form an active layer with a desired shape. The present invention is also characterized by forming a semiconductor film through a sputtering method, subsequently forming an insulating film. Next, the semiconductor film is crystallized through the insulating film, so that a crystalline semiconductor film is formed. According this structure, it is possible to obtain a thin film transistor with a good electronic property and a high reliability in a safe processing environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 8148895
    Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a display device in which unevenness generated under a light-emitting element does not impart an adverse effect on the light-emitting element. It is another object of the invention to provide a method for manufacturing a display device in which penetration of water into the inside of the display device through a film having high moisture permeability can be suppressed without increasing processing steps considerably. It is another object of the invention to provide a display device and a method for manufacturing a display device satisfying the above two simultaneously.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masayuki Sakakura, Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 8149043
    Abstract: The transistor suffers the variation caused in threshold voltage or mobility due to gathering of the factors of the variation in gate insulator film resulting from a difference in manufacture process or substrate used and of the variation in channel-region crystal state. The present invention provides an electric circuit having an arrangement such that both electrodes of a capacitance element can hold a gate-to-source voltage of a particular transistor. The invention provides an electric circuit having a function capable of setting a potential difference at between the both electrodes of the capacitance element by the use of a constant-current source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hajime Kimura, Yasuko Watanabe
  • Patent number: 8144809
    Abstract: An encoder encodes audio data and the like to generate a binary signal. A mapper converts the binary signal into a four-level symbol and outputs the four-level symbol. A base band filter includes a root raised cosine filter and a sinc filter. The base band filter blocks a predetermined frequency component of a symbol to shape the symbol into a waveform signal and outputs the waveform signal shape. An FM modulator transmits a signal subjected to FM modulation according to a magnitude of an amplitude of a waveform signal to a receiving unit. When a symbol of ±3 is outputted from the mapper, a frequency shift of a signal transmitted from the FM modulator has a predetermined value in a range of ±0.822 [kHz] to ±0.952 [kHz]. This makes it possible to provide a modulating apparatus, a mobile communication system, a modulating method, and a communication method that use a modulating method that can conform to the FCC rule to be enforced in 2005 without using a linear power amplifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Kenwood
    Inventor: Masaru Taniguchi
  • Patent number: 8141835
    Abstract: A display panel driving mechanism for electronic device supports a lower side of a display panel (1), which is arranged on a front plane of an electronic device, to be freely turned around a first shaft (5a) which moves by following a slider (4) driven in to and fro directions. The mechanism shifts a second shaft (9a), which is provided on a member (9) attached on an upper side of the display panel (1), along a guide groove (2a) provided on a member (2) fixed to a case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Kenwood
    Inventor: Keiji Kasai
  • Patent number: 8143844
    Abstract: The charging circuit includes an antenna circuit receiving radio waves, a rectifier circuit rectifying AC voltage generated in the antenna circuit to generate DC voltage, and a power supply circuit adjusting the magnitude of the DC voltage and charging a rechargeable battery using the adjusted DC voltage. The charging device may further include a charge control circuit controlling the power supply circuit so as to prevent overcharge of the rechargeable battery. The rechargeable battery may be charged by application of DC voltage to a pair of terminals, or it may be charged wirelessly in such a manner that an oscillation circuit and an output antenna circuit are additionally provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hikaru Tamura
  • Patent number: 8143625
    Abstract: There is provided a technique to form a single crystal semiconductor thin film or a substantially single crystal semiconductor thin film. A catalytic element for facilitating crystallization of an amorphous semiconductor thin film is added to the amorphous semiconductor thin film, and a heat treatment is carried out to obtain a crystalline semiconductor thin film. After the crystalline semiconductor thin film is irradiated with ultraviolet light or infrared light, a heat treatment at a temperature of 900 to 1200° C. is carried out in a reducing atmosphere. The surface of the crystalline semiconductor thin film is extremely flattened through this step, defects in crystal grains and crystal grain boundaries disappear, and the single crystal semiconductor thin film or substantially single crystal semiconductor thin film is obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Hisashi Ohtani, Tamae Takano
  • Patent number: 8143168
    Abstract: The present invention discloses technique of etching selectively a layer containing siloxane. The present invention provides a semiconductor device with reduced operation deterioration due to etching failure. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprises steps of forming a conductive layer electrically connecting to a transistor, an insulating layer covering the conductive layer, and a mask formed over the insulating layer; and etching the insulating layer with a processing gas including a hydrogen bromide gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinya Sasagawa, Shigeharu Monoe
  • Patent number: 8144144
    Abstract: A display device according to the present invention includes a switching regulator control circuit formed of TFTs. A digital switching regulator control circuit is composed of an AD converter circuit, a CPU, a pulse generation circuit or the like. An analog switching regulator control circuit is composed of an error amplifier circuit, a triangle wave generation circuit, a PWM comparator or the like. By integrally forming the switching regulator control circuit on a display device, the problem of the conventional portable information equipment as to the reduction in size and weight can be solved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Jun Koyama
  • Patent number: 8143118
    Abstract: A semiconductor device having a highly responsive thin film transistor (TFT) with low subthreshold swing and suppressed decrease in the on-state current and a manufacturing method thereof are demonstrated. The TFT of the present invention is characterized by its semiconductor layer where the thickness of the source region or the drain region is larger than that of the channel formation region. Manufacture of the TFT is readily achieved by the formation of an amorphous semiconductor layer on a projection portion and a depression portion, which is followed by subjecting the melting process of the semiconductor layer, resulting in the formation of a crystalline semiconductor layer having different thicknesses. Selective addition of impurity to the thick portion of the semiconductor layer provides a semiconductor layer in which the channel formation region is thinner than the source or drain region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideto Ohnuma, Atsuo Isobe, Hiromichi Godo
  • Patent number: 8143629
    Abstract: An object of the invention is to provide a lighting device which can suppress luminance nonuniformity in a light emitting region when the lighting device has large area. A layer including a light emitting material is formed between a first electrode and a second electrode, and a third electrode is formed to connect to the first electrode through an opening formed in the second electrode and the layer including a light emitting material. An effect of voltage drop due to relatively high resistivity of the first electrode can be reduced by electrically connecting the third electrode to the first electrode through the opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yasuyuki Arai
  • Patent number: 8144013
    Abstract: A semiconductor device with improved reliability, in which increase in power consumption can be reduced. The semiconductor device includes an antenna for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal to/from a communication device and at least first and second functional circuits electrically connected to the antenna. The first functional circuit includes a power supply control circuit for controlling power supply voltage output from a power supply circuit in the second functional circuit. A power supply control circuit in the second functional circuit includes a transistor of which first terminal is electrically connected to an output terminal of the power supply circuit and second terminal is electrically connected to a ground line. A gate terminal of the transistor is electrically connected to the power supply control circuit included in one functional circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jun Koyama, Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 8143134
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for manufacturing an SOI substrate, to improve planarity of a surface of a single crystal semiconductor layer after separation by favorably separating a single crystal semiconductor substrate even in the case where a non-mass-separation type ion irradiation method is used, and to improve planarity of a surface of a single crystal semiconductor layer after separation as well as to improve throughput.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takeshi Shichi, Junichi Koezuka, Hideto Ohnuma, Shunpei Yamazaki