Patents by Inventor Akiko Iimura

Akiko Iimura has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 12083791
    Abstract: A liquid discharge device includes a container configured to contain a liquid; a discharge port which is formed by bonding a plurality of substrates and from which the liquid supplied from the container is discharged; a piezoelectric element provided in correspondence with the discharge port, and configured to generate energy for discharging the liquid from the discharge port; and a detection unit configured to detect peeling of a bonding surface between the plurality of substrates forming the discharge port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2024
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Sari Ito, Masahiro Kuri, Akiko Iimura, Noriyasu Hasegawa
  • Publication number: 20240100853
    Abstract: A liquid discharge apparatus including a head configured to discharge a liquid, a chamber configured to contain the head, a circulation system configured to circulate a gas inside the chamber, an exhaust system configured to operate to exhaust the gas to an outside of the chamber, a filter provided in the circulation system and configured to remove a removal target contained in the gas, a detection unit configured to indirectly detect the removal target by detecting a detection target that is contained in the gas and different from the removal target, and a controller configured to operate the exhaust system when a concentration of the detection target detected by the detection unit is not lower than a threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2023
    Publication date: March 28, 2024
    Inventors: SHUGO NAKAYAMA, TOMOFUMI NISHIKAWARA, AKIKO IIMURA, MASAHIRO KURI, TETSUYA YAMAMOTO
  • Patent number: 11465350
    Abstract: An ejection device includes: an ejection unit provided with an ejection port configured to eject an ejection material; a piezoelectric element configured to cause the ejection material to be ejected from the ejection unit; a first liquid chamber connected to the ejection unit and configured to supply the ejection unit with the ejection material; a pressure control unit configured to control a pressure in the ejection unit by controlling a pressure in the first liquid chamber; and a detection unit configured to detect a wetness of an ejection port side surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akiko Iimura, Noriyasu Hasegawa, Yoshimasa Araki
  • Patent number: 11097545
    Abstract: A liquid ejection device, a cleaning apparatus and a cleaning method for a module substrate, which can remove foreign matter on an ejection opening face and in a flow path connected with an ejection opening is provided. For that purpose, an ejection opening face is covered with liquid, cleaning is performed by driving a device configured to vibrate liquid, and after that the liquid is collected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Akiko Iimura, Hisashi Namba, Noriyasu Hasegawa, Masahiro Kuri
  • Publication number: 20210069977
    Abstract: An ejection device includes: an ejection unit provided with an ejection port configured to eject an ejection material; a piezoelectric element configured to cause the ejection material to be ejected from the ejection unit; a first liquid chamber connected to the ejection unit and configured to supply the ejection unit with the ejection material; a pressure control unit configured to control a pressure in the ejection unit by controlling a pressure in the first liquid chamber; and a detection unit configured to detect a wetness of an ejection port side surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2020
    Publication date: March 11, 2021
    Inventors: Akiko Iimura, Noriyasu Hasegawa, Yoshimasa Araki
  • Patent number: 10856422
    Abstract: Method of forming a pattern by arranging a photocurable composition on a substrate; bringing a mold having a concavo-convex pattern into contact with the composition; irradiating the composition with light to form a cured film; releasing the mold from the cured film; forming a reversal layer on the cured film having a concavo-convex pattern transferred from the mold; partially removing the reversal layer to expose the convexes of the pattern in such a manner that the reversal layer remains in the concaves of the pattern formed on the cured film; and etching the photocurable composition layer using the reversal layer remaining in the concaves as a mask to form a reversal pattern, wherein the mold is brought into contact with the photocurable composition in an atmosphere of a soluble gas having a solubility in the composition; and the soluble gas has a saturation solubility of 38% by volume or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshiki Ito, Shiori Yonezawa, Keiko Chiba, Akiko Iimura
  • Patent number: 10768525
    Abstract: An imprint apparatus forms a pattern by curing a radical polymerizable imprint material by irradiating the imprint material with light in a state in which a mold is brought into contact with the imprint material. The apparatus includes an irradiator configured to irradiate the imprint material with light, and a controller configured to control the irradiator. Letting Ic be an illuminance of the light with which the imprint material is irradiated, tc be a time during which the imprint material is irradiated with the light, k be a coefficient, and PD be a target degree of photopolymerization of the imprint material subjected to irradiation with the light, the controller determines the irradiation time in accordance with: PD=k×(?Ic)×tc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akiko Iimura, Toshiki Ito
  • Patent number: 10578965
    Abstract: A pattern is formed on a substrate with a layer of a curable composition (A1) containing a component (a1) serving as a polymerizable compound on a surface of the substrate, then dispensing droplets of a curable composition (A2) containing at least a component (a2) serving as a polymerizable compound and a component (b2) serving as a photopolymerization initiator dropwise discretely onto the curable composition (A1) layer to lay the droplets, subsequently sandwiching a mixture layer of the curable composition (A1) and the curable composition (A2) between a mold having a pattern and the substrate, then irradiating the mixture layer with light to cure the layer, and releasing the mold from the mixture layer after the curing, a Distance in Hansen space Ra((a1)?(A2)) between the component (a1) serving as a polymerizable compound in the curable composition (A1) and the curable composition (A2) being 6 or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akiko Iimura, Toshiki Ito
  • Patent number: 10571802
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a photocurable composition for imprint in a condensable gas atmosphere. The composition at least includes a polymerizable compound component (A) and photopolymerization initiator component (B) and satisfies the Requirement (1): a value ECG of greater than or equal to 2.30 GPa, where ECG denotes the reduced modulus (GPa) of a photocured film prepared by exposing the photocurable composition for imprint to light at an exposure dose of 200 mJ/cm2 in an atmosphere containing a condensable gas in a concentration of 90% by volume or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazumi Iwashita, Toshiki Ito, Akiko Iimura, Jun Kato, Keiji Yamashita
  • Publication number: 20200047506
    Abstract: A liquid ejection device, a cleaning apparatus and a cleaning method for a module substrate, which can remove foreign matters on an ejection opening face and in a flow path connected with an ejection opening is provided. For that purpose, an ejection opening face is covered with liquid, cleaning is performed by driving a device configured to vibrate liquid, and after that the liquid is collected.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2019
    Publication date: February 13, 2020
    Inventors: Akiko Iimura, Hisashi Namba, Noriyasu Hasegawa, Masahiro Kuri
  • Patent number: 10539869
    Abstract: A pattern is formed on a substrate with a layer of a curable composition (A1) containing a component (a1) serving as a polymerizable compound on a surface of the substrate, then dispensing droplets of a curable composition (A2) containing at least a component (a2) serving as a polymerizable compound and a component (b2) serving as a photopolymerization initiator dropwise discretely onto the curable composition (A1) layer to lay the droplets, subsequently sandwiching a mixture layer of the curable composition (A1) and the curable composition (A2) between a mold having a pattern and the substrate, then irradiating the mixture layer with light to cure the layer, and releasing the mold from the mixture layer after the curing, a Distance in Hansen space Ra((a1)?(A2)) between the component (a1) serving as a polymerizable compound in the curable composition (A1) and the curable composition (A2) being 6 or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akiko Iimura, Toshiki Ito
  • Patent number: 10386717
    Abstract: An imprint method includes: placing a light-curable composition on a workpiece substrate (placement); bringing the light-curable composition and a mold into contact with each other an atmosphere of a condensable gas (contact); aligning the mold and the workpiece substrate (alignment); irradiating the light-curable composition with light to obtain a light-cured composition (irradiation); and separating the light-cured composition and the mold from each other after the irradiation (release). The film thickness of the light-curable composition during the alignment is 20% or more greater than that of the light-cured composition after the release.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshiki Ito, Takashi Yoshida, Hitoshi Sato, Youji Kawasaki, Akiko Iimura, Keiji Yamashita, Takehiko Ueno
  • Patent number: 10182500
    Abstract: In an imprint process in a gaseous atmosphere containing a condensable gas, the curable composition for photoimprint is difficult to cure, the pattern is not fully formed to cause defects. The present invention relates to a curable composition for photoimprint in a gaseous atmosphere containing a condensable gas. The curable composition for photoimprint at least comprises the following component (A) and component (B): (A) polymerizable compound, and (B) photopolymerization initiator. Component (B) has a saturated solubility of less than 1% by weight in the condensable gas in a liquid state at 5° C. and 1 atm or has a Hansen distance (Ra) of larger than 7.6 to the condensable gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takeshi Honma, Toshiki Ito, Shiori Yonezawa, Youji Kawasaki, Akiko Iimura
  • Patent number: 10150231
    Abstract: Provided is a method for manufacturing a photo cured material, by which transferring precision can be improved and a small surface roughness can be obtained. The method includes the steps of: placing a photo-curable composition on a substrate; brining a mold into contact with the photo-curable composition; irradiating the photo-curable composition with light; and releasing the mold from the photo-curable composition. The contact is performed in a condensable gas atmosphere, the condensable gas condensing under a temperature condition at the contact and under a pressure condition that the condensable gas receives when the photo-curable composition intrudes gaps between the substrate and the mold or concavities provided on the mold, and the photo-curable composition includes a gas dissolution inhibitor having a rate of weight change with reference to the condensable gas that is ?1.0% to 3.0%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiki Ito, Akiko Iimura
  • Patent number: 9957340
    Abstract: An imprinting method for forming a pattern of a cured product by irradiating a curable composition for imprinting disposed on a substrate with light while the curable composition is in contact with a mold having surface asperities and removing the mold from a cured product of the curable composition. The method includes bringing the mold into contact with the curable composition in a condensable gas atmosphere, wherein the curable composition for imprinting has a viscosity in the range of 1 cP to 40 cP in air at 23° C., and the condensable gas is introduced between the mold and the curable composition such that the curable composition for imprinting has a condensable gas solubility (gas/(curable composition+gas)) (g/g) in the range of 0.1 to 0.4.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Keiko Chiba, Toshiki Ito, Akiko Iimura, Youji Kawasaki, Keiji Yamashita, Jun Kato
  • Publication number: 20180042117
    Abstract: A pattern is formed by arranging a photocurable composition on a substrate; bringing a mold having a concavo-convex pattern into contact with the composition; irradiating the composition with light to form a cured film; releasing the mold from the cured film; forming a reversal layer on the cured film having a concavo-convex pattern transferred from the mold; partially removing the reversal layer to expose the convexes of the pattern in such a manner that the reversal layer remains in the concaves of the pattern formed on the cured film; and etching the photocurable composition layer using the reversal layer remaining in the concaves as a mask to form a reversal pattern, wherein the mold is brought into contact with the photocurable composition in an atmosphere of a soluble gas having a solubility in the composition; and the soluble gas has a saturation solubility of 38% by volume or more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2016
    Publication date: February 8, 2018
    Inventors: Toshiki Ito, Shiori Yonezawa, Keiko Chiba, Akiko Iimura
  • Publication number: 20180017861
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a photocurable composition for imprint in a condensable gas atmosphere. The composition at least includes a polymerizable compound component (A) and photopolymerization initiator component (B) and satisfies the Requirement (1): a value ECG of greater than or equal to 2.30 GPa, where ECG denotes the reduced modulus (GPa) of a photocured film prepared by exposing the photocurable composition for imprint to light at an exposure dose of 200 mJ/cm' in an atmosphere containing a condensable gas in a concentration of 90% by volume or more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2015
    Publication date: January 18, 2018
    Inventors: Kazumi Iwashita, Toshiki Ito, Akiko Iimura, Jun Kato, Keiji Yamashita
  • Publication number: 20170285465
    Abstract: A pattern is formed on a substrate with a layer of a curable composition (A1) containing a component (a1) serving as a polymerizable compound on a surface of the substrate, then dispensing droplets of a curable composition (A2) containing at least a component (a2) serving as a polymerizable compound and a component (b2) serving as a photopolymerization initiator dropwise discretely onto the curable composition (A1) layer to lay the droplets, subsequently sandwiching a mixture layer of the curable composition (A1) and the curable composition (A2) between a mold having a pattern and the substrate, then irradiating the mixture layer with light to cure the layer, and releasing the mold from the mixture layer after the curing, a Distance in Hansen space Ra((a1)?(A2)) between the component (a1) serving as a polymerizable compound in the curable composition (A1) and the curable composition (A2) being 6 or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2017
    Publication date: October 5, 2017
    Inventors: Akiko Iimura, Toshiki Ito
  • Publication number: 20170232645
    Abstract: An imprint apparatus forms a pattern by curing a radical polymerizable imprint material by irradiating the imprint material with light in a state in which a mold is brought into contact with the imprint material. The apparatus includes an irradiator configured to irradiate the imprint material with light, and a controller configured to control the irradiator. Letting Ic be an illuminance of the light with which the imprint material is irradiated, tc be a time during which the imprint material is irradiated with the light, k be a coefficient, and PD be a target degree of photopolymerization of the imprint material subjected to irradiation with the light, the controller determines the irradiation time in accordance with: PD=k×(?Ic)×tc.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2017
    Publication date: August 17, 2017
    Inventors: Akiko Iimura, Toshiki Ito
  • Publication number: 20160366769
    Abstract: In an imprint process in a gaseous atmosphere containing a condensable gas, the curable composition for photoimprint is difficult to cure, the pattern is not fully formed to cause defects. The present invention relates to a curable composition for photoimprint in a gaseous atmosphere containing a condensable gas. The curable composition for photoimprint at least comprises the following component (A) and component (B): (A) polymerizable compound, and (B) photopolymerization initiator. Component (B) has a saturated solubility of less than 1% by weight in the condensable gas in a liquid state at 5° C. and 1 atm or has a Hansen distance (Ra) of larger than 7.6 to the condensable gas.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2015
    Publication date: December 15, 2016
    Inventors: Takeshi Honma, Toshiki Ito, Shiori Yonezawa, Youji Kawasaki, Akiko Iimura