Patents by Inventor Seiko Minami

Seiko Minami 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: 12138928
    Abstract: Provided is a method for manufacturing a liquid ejection head substrate and a method for manufacturing a liquid ejection head capable of reducing degradation of the quality of a printed image. To this end, in formation of a liquid ejection head substrate, a part required to have more precise relative positional relation or not required to have high fabrication precision is set as a first part, and for the first part, a single-shot exposure method is employed. Also, a part required to have higher fabrication precision is set as a second part, and for the second part, a split exposure method is employed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2024
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Seiko Minami, Hidenori Yamato, Takaaki Yamaguchi, Nobuyuki Hirayama, Kyohei Kubota, Yu Nishimura
  • Publication number: 20240227394
    Abstract: A head board, comprising an orifice configured to discharge a liquid, a plurality of electrothermal transducers configured to generate heat to discharge the liquid from the orifice, a sensor element configured to detect a state of discharge of the liquid from the orifice, and a delay circuit configured to delay an output timing of a signal, wherein the plurality of electrothermal transducers and the sensor element are driven by a common drive signal, when driving the plurality of electrothermal transducers, the drive signal is input to the plurality of electrothermal transducers via the delay circuit, and when driving the sensor element, the drive signal is input to the sensor element without passing through the delay circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2024
    Publication date: July 11, 2024
    Inventors: SEIKO MINAMI, NOBUYUKI HIRAYAMA
  • Patent number: 11833817
    Abstract: Long-term reliability of a liquid ejection head substrate and a liquid ejection head is improved by suppressing dissolution of an intermediate layer due to anodization. A liquid ejection head substrate including: a flow passage forming member having an ejection orifice and a flow passage; a heating resistance element for ejecting a liquid; an insulating layer covering the heating resistance element; a protecting layer whose surface is exposed to the flow passage; and an intermediate layer provided between the flow passage forming member and the protecting layer, in which the intermediate layer contains a material represented by a following composition formula (I): Siw1Ox1Cy1 (I), 39?w1?62 (at. %), 32?x1?55 (at. %), and 6?y1?29 (at. %), and w1+x1+y1=100 (at %).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Seiko Minami, Kenji Takahashi, Mai Hirohara
  • Patent number: 11760090
    Abstract: A liquid ejection head circuit board including a substrate, a heat generating resistance element that generates heat energy used for ejection of liquid, an electric wiring layer that is electrically connected to the heat generating resistance element, and an insulating film that insulates the electric wiring layer. The insulating film includes a first insulating film and a second insulating film on the first insulating film, the first insulating film is a first SiOCN film, and the second insulating film is a second SiOCN film containing more carbon than the first SiOCN film or a low-density insulating film with a lower density than the first SiOCN film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kenji Takahashi, Mai Hirohara, Seiko Minami
  • Publication number: 20230049764
    Abstract: Provided is a method for manufacturing a liquid ejection head substrate and a method for manufacturing a liquid ejection head capable of reducing degradation of the quality of a printed image. To this end, in formation of a liquid ejection head substrate, a part required to have more precise relative positional relation or not required to have high fabrication precision is set as a first part, and for the first part, a single-shot exposure method is employed. Also, a part required to have higher fabrication precision is set as a second part, and for the second part, a split exposure method is employed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2022
    Publication date: February 16, 2023
    Inventors: Seiko Minami, Hidenori Yamato, Takaaki Yamaguchi, Nobuyuki Hirayama, Kyohei Kubota, Yu Nishimura
  • Publication number: 20220153026
    Abstract: Long-term reliability of a liquid ejection head substrate and a liquid ejection head is improved by suppressing dissolution of an intermediate layer due to anodization. A liquid ejection head substrate including: a flow passage forming member having an ejection orifice and a flow passage; a heating resistance element for ejecting a liquid; an insulating layer covering the heating resistance element; a protecting layer whose surface is exposed to the flow passage; and an intermediate layer provided between the flow passage forming member and the protecting layer, in which the intermediate layer contains a material represented by a following composition formula (I): Siw1Ox1Cy1 (I), 39?w1?62 (at. %), 32?x1?55 (at. %), and 6?y1?29 (at. %), and w1+x1+y1=100 (at %).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 8, 2021
    Publication date: May 19, 2022
    Inventors: Seiko Minami, Kenji Takahashi, Mai Hirohara
  • Publication number: 20220153027
    Abstract: A liquid ejection head circuit board including a substrate, a heat generating resistance element that generates heat energy used for ejection of liquid, an electric wiring layer that is electrically connected to the heat generating resistance element, and an insulating film that insulates the electric wiring layer. The insulating film includes a first insulating film and a second insulating film on the first insulating film, the first insulating film is a first SiOCN film, and the second insulating film is a second SiOCN film containing more carbon than the first SiOCN film or a low-density insulating film with a lower density than the first SiOCN film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 10, 2021
    Publication date: May 19, 2022
    Inventors: Kenji Takahashi, Mai Hirohara, Seiko Minami
  • Patent number: 11020971
    Abstract: A liquid ejection head including an orifice plate including an ejection orifice, an element substrate including an energy-generating element, and a flow path wall member for formation of a flow path, the flow path wall member being disposed between the element substrate and the orifice plate, wherein the orifice plate includes a first surface and a second surface which is opposite to the first surface and which is disposed facing the element substrate, the first surface includes a first diamond-like carbon film, respective contact angles ?1 and ?2 to pure water, of the first surface and the second surface, satisfy a relationship of Expression 1 defined in the specification, and composition in the first surface of the first diamond-like carbon film satisfies all relationships of Expression 2 to Expression 5 defined in the specification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Seiko Minami, Kenji Takahashi, Masaya Uyama
  • Publication number: 20200147962
    Abstract: A liquid ejection head including an orifice plate including an ejection orifice, an element substrate including an energy-generating element, and a flow path wall member for formation of a flow path, the flow path wall member being disposed between the element substrate and the orifice plate, wherein the orifice plate includes a first surface and a second surface which is opposite to the first surface and which is disposed facing the element substrate, the first surface includes a first diamond-like carbon film, respective contact angles ?1 and ?2 to pure water, of the first surface and the second surface, satisfy a relationship of Expression 1 defined in the specification, and composition in the first surface of the first diamond-like carbon film satisfies all relationships of Expression 2 to Expression 5 defined in the specification.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2019
    Publication date: May 14, 2020
    Inventors: Seiko Minami, Kenji Takahashi, Masaya Uyama
  • Publication number: 20190263124
    Abstract: A liquid ejection head substrate that includes a nozzle plate provided with an ejection orifice adapted to eject liquid droplets, in which a projection/depression pattern is provided on a liquid droplet ejection surface of the nozzle plate, the projection/depression pattern being made up of a plurality of projections and depressions, the projections being separated by depressions 1 ?m or less in depth and disposed at predetermined spacing 10 ?m or less in length; and the projection/depression pattern includes a part having water repellency due to lotus effect.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Publication date: August 29, 2019
    Inventors: Kenji Takahashi, Mitsuru Chida, Mitsunori Toshishige, Shiro Sujaku, Kenji Kumamaru, Noriyasu Ozaki, Makoto Terui, Seiko Minami
  • Patent number: 9789689
    Abstract: A method of forming a through-substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, the method causing the first surface to communicate with the second surface through the substrate, the method including: a first step that forms a first trench from the first surface side of the substrate using dry etching, the first trench having side surfaces on which protective film is formed; and a second step that forms a second trench from the second surface side using dry etching, the second trench communicating with the first trench having the side surfaces on which the protective film is formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshinao Ogata, Seiko Minami, Masataka Kato, Masaya Uyama, Toshiyasu Sakai, Hiroshi Higuchi
  • Patent number: 9676193
    Abstract: A substrate processing method includes forming a first hole in a first surface of a silicon substrate to have a depth that it does not extend through the substrate and forming a second hole in a second surface to make the second hole to communicate with the first hole, so that a through hole formed of the first and second holes is formed in the substrate. The process of forming the second hole includes forming a communication portion wider than an opening of the first hole between the first and second holes after the second hole has been made to communicate with the first hole by dry etching.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masataka Kato, Hiroshi Higuchi, Yoshinao Ogata, Seiko Minami, Masaya Uyama, Toshiyasu Sakai
  • Patent number: 9511588
    Abstract: A method for processing a silicon substrate, comprising the steps of providing a silicon substrate having a first surface and a second surface, forming a non-penetrated hole extending from the first surface toward the second surface side in the silicon substrate, sticking a sealing tape comprising a support member and an adhesive layer on the first surface and filling at least part of the non-penetrated hole with the adhesive layer, performing reactive ion etching from the second surface toward the first surface side to allow the reactive ion etching to reach the adhesive layer filled in the non-penetrated hole and to expose the adhesive layer, and peeling the sealing tape from the silicon substrate to form a through hole in the silicon substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2016
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Seiko Minami, Toshiyasu Sakai, Masataka Kato, Masaya Uyama, Hiroshi Higuchi, Yoshinao Ogata
  • Patent number: 9371225
    Abstract: A substrate processing method for forming a through-hole in a substrate by reactive ion etching includes preparing a substrate that has a first surface and a second surface and on the first surface side of which a first layer and a second layer are disposed, the second surface being on the opposite side to the first surface, the second layer covering the first layer; and performing reactive ion etching on the substrate from the second surface to form a through-hole extending through the substrate from the first surface to the second surface, the reactive ion etching being performed to reach the first layer. The etching rate of the second layer for the reactive ion etching is lower than that of the first layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2016
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Seiko Minami, Toshiyasu Sakai
  • Publication number: 20150360470
    Abstract: A method of forming a through-substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, the method causing the first surface to communicate with the second surface through the substrate, the method including: a first step that forms a first trench from the first surface side of the substrate using dry etching, the first trench having side surfaces on which protective film is formed; and a second step that forms a second trench from the second surface side using dry etching, the second trench communicating with the first trench having the side surfaces on which the protective film is formed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2015
    Publication date: December 17, 2015
    Inventors: Yoshinao Ogata, Seiko Minami, Masataka Kato, Masaya Uyama, Toshiyasu Sakai, Hiroshi Higuchi
  • Publication number: 20150328896
    Abstract: A substrate processing method includes forming a first hole in a first surface of a silicon substrate to have a depth that it does not extend through the substrate and forming a second hole in a second surface to make the second hole to communicate with the first hole, so that a through hole formed of the first and second holes is formed in the substrate. The process of forming the second hole includes forming a communication portion wider than an opening of the first hole between the first and second holes after the second hole has been made to communicate with the first hole by dry etching.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 8, 2015
    Publication date: November 19, 2015
    Inventors: Masataka Kato, Hiroshi Higuchi, Yoshinao Ogata, Seiko Minami, Masaya Uyama, Toshiyasu Sakai
  • Patent number: 9102151
    Abstract: A liquid ejection head including a substrate having an ejection-energy-generating element for generating energy for ejecting a liquid; an orifice plate including at least an ejection-orifice-forming wall that constitutes an ejection orifice for ejecting the liquid and an upper wall of a liquid chamber communicating with the ejection orifice, and a liquid chamber side wall that constitutes a side wall of the liquid chamber. The orifice plate is formed of an inorganic material. The liquid ejection head includes a plurality of liquid chambers; and an elastic member filled into a depressed portion formed between the liquid chamber side wall of one liquid chamber of the liquid chambers adjacent to each other and the liquid chamber side wall of the other liquid chamber. The upper end of the elastic member is arranged in a position higher than an upper face of the ejection-orifice-forming wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Seiko Minami
  • Publication number: 20150136024
    Abstract: A liquid discharge head has a substrate, an energy generating element which generates energy for discharging liquid, and an orifice plate in which a discharge orifice which discharges liquid is formed, in which the orifice plate contains silicon and carbon and when the content ratio of the silicon is defined as X (atom %) and the content ratio of the carbon is defined as Y (atom %), Y/X is 0.001 or more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2013
    Publication date: May 21, 2015
    Inventors: Souta Takeuchi, Hirokazu Komuro, Takuya Hatsui, Makoto Sakurai, Takeru Yasuda, Soichiro Nagamochi, Masaya Uyama, Seiko Minami, Hiroshi Higuchi
  • Publication number: 20150116426
    Abstract: A liquid ejection head including a substrate having an ejection-energy-generating element for generating energy for ejecting a liquid; an orifice plate including at least an ejection-orifice-forming wall that constitutes an ejection orifice for ejecting the liquid and an upper wall of a liquid chamber communicating with the ejection orifice, and a liquid chamber side wall that constitutes a side wall of the liquid chamber. The orifice plate is formed of an inorganic material. The liquid ejection head includes a plurality of liquid chambers; and an elastic member filled into a depressed portion formed between the liquid chamber side wall of one liquid chamber of the liquid chambers adjacent to each other and the liquid chamber side wall of the other liquid chamber. The upper end of the elastic member is arranged in a position higher than an upper face of the ejection-orifice-forming wall.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 1, 2014
    Publication date: April 30, 2015
    Inventor: Seiko MINAMI
  • Publication number: 20150111321
    Abstract: A method for processing a silicon substrate, comprising the steps of providing a silicon substrate having a first surface and a second surface, forming a non-penetrated hole extending from the first surface toward the second surface side in the silicon substrate, sticking a sealing tape comprising a support member and an adhesive layer on the first surface and filling at least part of the non-penetrated hole with the adhesive layer, performing reactive ion etching from the second surface toward the first surface side to allow the reactive ion etching to reach the adhesive layer filled in the non-penetrated hole and to expose the adhesive layer, and peeling the sealing tape from the silicon substrate to form a through hole in the silicon substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2014
    Publication date: April 23, 2015
    Inventors: Seiko Minami, Toshiyasu Sakai, Masataka Kato, Masaya Uyama, Hiroshi Higuchi, Yoshinao Ogata