Patents by Inventor Sylvain Ballandras

Sylvain Ballandras 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).

  • Publication number: 20220173721
    Abstract: A method of interrogating an acoustic wave sensor comprises transmitting, by an interrogator, an interrogation radiofrequency signal to the acoustic wave sensor by way of a transmission antenna, receiving, by the interrogator, a response radiofrequency signal from the acoustic wave sensor by way of a reception antenna, and processing by a processing means of the interrogator the received response radiofrequency signal to obtain in-phase and quadrature components both in the time domain and the frequency domain, determining by the processing means perturbations of the obtained in-phase and quadrature components both in the time domain and the frequency domain and determining by the processing means a value of a measurand based on the detected perturbations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 19, 2020
    Publication date: June 2, 2022
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Thierry LaRoche, Julien Garcia
  • Patent number: 11316241
    Abstract: An electrical device adapted to operate at a high operating ambient temperature includes an electrical component mounted inside a casing, a transmission/reception antenna and at least one electrical and mechanical connection between the electrical component and the antenna. The electrical and mechanical connection comprises a metal pad positioned under the casing, the antenna being connected to the pad; an electrical connection tab having a first end connected to the electrical component; and fixing means adapted to secure the pad and a second end of the connection tab of the component. The device is applicable to, for example, temperature sensors of the surface guided elastic wave type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: FREC |N| SYS
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Alexandre Raveski, Florent Bernard, Julien Garcia, Emilie Courjon, Thierry LaRoche
  • Publication number: 20220060173
    Abstract: A surface acoustic wave device: includes at least one transducer; two acoustic reflectors disposed on either side of the at least one transducer so as to form a cavity, each acoustic reflector comprising an array of electrodes in the form of lines parallel with each other, each array comprising a subset of electrodes connected to a reference potential denoted mass defining a first connection type, and a subset of electrodes that are not connected to any potential, i.e. that have a floating connection defining a second connection type; at least one switching circuit configured to modify the distribution of the connections of at least one part of the electrodes of each array between the different connection types.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2019
    Publication date: February 24, 2022
    Inventors: Thi Mai PHAM COLOMBAN, Claude PRÉVOT, Paolo MARTINS, Anne-Christine HLADKY- HENNION, Bertrand DUBUS, Marianne SAGNARD, Thierry LAROCHE, Sylvain BALLANDRAS, Charles CROENNE
  • Publication number: 20210343560
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for real-time sensing of properties in industrial manufacturing equipment are described. The sensing system includes first plural sensors mounted within a processing environment of a semiconductor device manufacturing system, wherein each sensor is assigned to a different region to monitor a physical or chemical property of the assigned region of the manufacturing system, and a reader system having componentry configured to simultaneously and wirelessly interrogate the plural sensors. The reader system uses a single high frequency interrogation sequence that includes (1) transmitting a first request pulse signal to the first plural sensors, the first request pulse signal being associated with a first frequency band, and (2) receiving uniquely identifiable response signals from the first plural sensors that provide real-time monitoring of variations in the physical or chemical property at each assigned region of the system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 16, 2021
    Publication date: November 4, 2021
    Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Thierry Laroche, Kimihiro Matsuse, Jacques Berg, Tomohide Minami
  • Patent number: 11114321
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for real-time sensing of properties in industrial manufacturing equipment are described. The sensing system includes first plural sensors mounted within a processing environment of a semiconductor device manufacturing system, wherein each sensor is assigned to a different region to monitor a physical or chemical property of the assigned region of the manufacturing system, and a reader system having componentry configured to simultaneously and wirelessly interrogate the plural sensors. The reader system uses a single high frequency interrogation sequence that includes (1) transmitting a first request pulse signal to the first plural sensors, the first request pulse signal being associated with a first frequency band, and (2) receiving uniquely identifiable response signals from the first plural sensors that provide real-time monitoring of variations in the physical or chemical property at each assigned region of the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Thierry Laroche, Kimihiro Matsuse, Jacques Berg, Tomohide Minami
  • Publication number: 20210265980
    Abstract: A coupled cavity filter structure that uses a surface acoustic wave, in particular, a guided surface acoustic wave, comprises an acoustic wave propagating substrate, at least one input transducer structure and one output transducer structure, provided over the substrate, each comprising inter-digitated comb electrodes, at least one reflecting structure comprising at least one or more metallic strips, positioned at a distance and in between the input and output transducer structures, in the direction of propagation of an acoustic wave. The acoustic wave propagating substrate is a composite substrate comprising a base substrate and a piezoelectric layer. In additional embodiments, a coupled cavity filter structure comprises a groove. In additional embodiments, a SAW ladder filter device comprises at least two coupled cavity filter structures as described herein, wherein the at least two coupled cavity filter structures are positioned on a single line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2019
    Publication date: August 26, 2021
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Thierry LaRoche
  • Publication number: 20210044273
    Abstract: A transducer structure for a surface acoustic wave device, comprising a pair of inter-digitated comb electrodes, wherein the pair of inter-digitated comb electrodes comprises neighboring electrode means belonging to different comb electrodes and having a pitch p being defined as the edge-to-edge electrode means distance between two neighboring electrode means, the pitch p satisfying the Bragg condition; characterized in that the pair of inter-digitated comb electrodes comprises at least one region in which two or more neighboring electrode means belong to the same comb electrode while having an edge-to-edge distance to each other corresponding to the pitch p. The present disclosure relates also to a surface acoustic wave filter device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2019
    Publication date: February 11, 2021
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Florent Bernard, Emilie Courjou
  • Publication number: 20210034935
    Abstract: A surface acoustic wave tag device is disclosed, comprising: an acoustic wave propagating substrate, at least one transducer structure comprising inter-digitated comb electrodes, and at least one reflecting means, the reflecting means comprising at least one reflector, wherein the acoustic wave propagation substrate is a composite substrate comprising a base substrate and a piezoelectric layer, wherein the crystallographic orientation of the piezoelectric layer with respect to the base substrate is such that the propagation of a shear wave inside the piezoelectric layer and in the direction of propagation corresponding to the acoustic wave is enabled. A physical quantity determining device and a fabrication method of such surface acoustic wave tag device are also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2019
    Publication date: February 4, 2021
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Thierry LaRoche
  • Publication number: 20210028760
    Abstract: A surface acoustic wave device using a longitudinally polarized guided wave comprises a composite substrate comprising a piezoelectric layer formed over a base substrate, wherein the crystalline orientation of the piezoelectric layer with respect to the base substrate is such that, the phase velocity of the longitudinally polarized wave is below the critical phase velocity of the base substrate at which wave guiding within the piezoelectric layer vanishes. A method of fabrication of such surface acoustic wave device is also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2019
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Florent Bernard, Emilie Courjon
  • Publication number: 20210021255
    Abstract: A surface acoustic wave device comprising a base substrate, a piezoelectric layer and an electrode layer in between the piezoelectric layer and the base substrate, a comb electrode formed on the piezoelectric layer comprising a plurality of electrode means with a pitch p, defined asp=A, with A being the wavelength of the standing acoustic wave generated by applying opposite potentials to the electrode layer and comb electrode, wherein the piezoelectric layer comprises at least one region located in between the electrode means, in which at least one physical parameter is different compared to the region underneath the electrode means or fingers. A method of fabrication for such surface acoustic wave device is also disclosed. The physical parameter may be thickness, elasticity, doping concentration of Ti or number of protons obtained by proton exchange.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2019
    Publication date: January 21, 2021
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Thierry LaRoche
  • Patent number: 10879874
    Abstract: A surface elastic wave resonator comprises a piezoelectric material to propagate the surface elastic waves and a transducer inserted between a pair of reflectors comprising combs of interdigitated electrodes and having a number Nc of electrodes connected to a hot spot and an acoustic aperture W wherein the relative permittivity of the piezoelectric material is greater than about 15, a product of Nc·W/fa for the transducer being greater than 100 ?m·MHz?1, where fa is the antiresonance frequency of the resonator. A circuit comprises a load impedance and a resonator according to the invention and having an electrical response manifesting as a peak in the coefficient of reflection S11 at a frequency of a minimum value of the parameter S11 that is lower than ?10 dB, the antiresonance peak of the resonator being matched to the impedance of the load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: SENSEOR
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Sébastien Alzuaga
  • Publication number: 20200303804
    Abstract: An electrical device adapted to operate at a high operating ambient temperature includes an electrical component mounted inside a casing, a transmission/reception antenna and at least one electrical and mechanical connection between the electrical component and the antenna. The electrical and mechanical connection comprises a metal pad positioned under the casing, the antenna being connected to the pad; an electrical connection tab having a first end connected to the electrical component; and fixing means adapted to secure the pad and a second end of the connection tab of the component. The device is applicable to, for example, temperature sensors of the surface guided elastic wave type.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Publication date: September 24, 2020
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Alexandre Raveski, Florent Bernard, Julien Garcia, Emilie Courjon, Thierry LaRoche
  • Patent number: 10270420
    Abstract: A surface elastic wave device comprises a stack including: a thin film made of a piezoelectric first material; a substrate made from a second material; and exciting means for generating at least one surface acoustic wave propagation mode in the piezoelectric film; wherein: the first material is a single-crystal material and the second material is a crystalline material, the thickness of the thin film of piezoelectric first material being smaller than or equal to 20 ?m, and the first material and the second material having viscoelastic coefficients lower than or equal to those of quartz for the propagation mode induced by the exciting means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignees: COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES, CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE
    Inventors: Sébastien Grousset, Sylvain Ballandras
  • Publication number: 20190057887
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for real-time sensing of properties in industrial manufacturing equipment are described. The sensing system includes first plural sensors mounted within a processing environment of a semiconductor device manufacturing system, wherein each sensor is assigned to a different region to monitor a physical or chemical property of the assigned region of the manufacturing system, and a reader system having componentry configured to simultaneously and wirelessly interrogate the plural sensors. The reader system uses a single high frequency interrogation sequence that includes (1) transmitting a first request pulse signal to the first plural sensors, the first request pulse signal being associated with a first frequency band, and (2) receiving uniquely identifiable response signals from the first plural sensors that provide real-time monitoring of variations in the physical or chemical property at each assigned region of the system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 17, 2018
    Publication date: February 21, 2019
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Thierry Laroche, Kimihiro Matsuse, Jacques Berg, Tomohide Minami
  • Patent number: 9843304
    Abstract: A surface-guided bulk wave transducer includes a stack of an acoustic substrate, an electric ground plane, and a network of synchronous acoustic excitation sources with two combs of elementary piezoelectric transducers alternately interlaced two-by-two according to a periodic network step corresponding to a propagation mode of a surface-guided bulk wave of the acoustic substrate. Each elementary piezoelectric transducer includes a single and different rod with a parallelepipedal shape for which the nature, the cut of the piezoelectric material, the height h, and the width are selected for increasing the electromechanical coupling coefficient of the transducer assembly to a high level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Viktor Plesski
  • Patent number: 9666786
    Abstract: A bulk wave piezoelectric resonator operating at a predetermined frequency includes a substrate block, having a plane face, a first thickness and consisting of a first material, a resonant plate having a length, width and second thickness, and consisting of a second piezoelectric material, first and second metal electrodes at least partly covering the resonant plate on each side and partly facing each other. The resonant plate is fixed perpendicularly in the vicinity of the plane face of the substrate block so that the width of the resonant plate and the first thickness of the substrate block have the same direction, and the first material, the second material, the first thickness of the block of substrate, the length, the width, the second thickness of the resonant plate are configured for trapping bulk waves at the operating frequency of the resonator and for producing a plane-plane type bulk wave piezoelectric resonator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignees: CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, UNIVERSITE DE FRANCHE-COMTE, ECOLE NATIONALE SUPERIEURE DE MECANIQUE ET DES MICROTECHNIQUES
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Gwenn Ulliac, Blandine Edouard-Guichardaz, Thomas Baron, Jean-Yves Rauch
  • Publication number: 20170033840
    Abstract: A surface elastic wave resonator comprises a piezoelectric material to propagate the surface elastic waves and a transducer inserted between a pair of reflectors comprising combs of interdigitated electrodes and having a number Nc of electrodes connected to a hot spot and an acoustic aperture W wherein the relative permittivity of the piezoelectric material is greater than about 15, a product of Nc·W/fa for the transducer being greater than 100 ?m·MHz?1, where fa is the antiresonance frequency of the resonator. A circuit comprises a load impedance and a resonator according to the invention and having an electrical response manifesting as a peak in the coefficient of reflection S11 at a frequency of a minimum value of the parameter S11 that is lower than ?10 dB, the antiresonance peak of the resonator being matched to the impedance of the load.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2016
    Publication date: February 2, 2017
    Inventors: Sylvain BALLANDRAS, Sébastien ALZUAGA
  • Patent number: 9496847
    Abstract: A piezoelectric and ferroelectric bulk wave transducer operating at a predetermined frequency includes a block of substrate, having a first thickness and in a first material, and a piezoelectric and ferroelectric transduction plate, having a length, a width and a second thickness, and in a second piezoelectric material, first and second metal electrodes covering the plate in the direction of the length thereof. The plate has first and second ferroelectric domains with alternating polarizations, distributed along the length of the plate according to a periodic pattern of pitch. The plate is attached perpendicularly to the block so that the width of the plate and the first thickness of the block are the same direction. The first and second material, the first thickness of the block, the length, the width, the second thickness, the pitch of the plate are configured for generating and trapping bulk waves at the operating frequency of the transducer, guided between both electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignees: CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE (C.N.R.S), UNIVERSITE DE FRANCHE-COMTE
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Gwenn Ulliac, Blandine Edouard-Guichardaz, Florent Bassignot, Emilie Courjon
  • Publication number: 20160261248
    Abstract: A surface elastic wave device comprises a stack including: a thin film made of a piezoelectric first material; a substrate made from a second material; and exciting means for generating at least one surface acoustic wave propagation mode in the piezoelectric film; wherein: the first material is a single-crystal material and the second material is a crystalline material, the thickness of the thin film of piezoelectric first material being smaller than or equal to 20 ?m, and the first material and the second material having viscoelastic coefficients lower than or equal to those of quartz for the propagation mode induced by the exciting means.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2016
    Publication date: September 8, 2016
    Inventors: Sébastien GROUSSET, Sylvain BALLANDRAS
  • Patent number: 9435768
    Abstract: A method of interrogating sensors of SAW type, which allows notably the gathering of physical measurements of parameters carried out by SAW sensors, the method for gathering the measurement of an SAW sensor comprising a first step of generating and emitting an electromagnetic signal corresponding to the dilated time-reversal of a dilation coefficient k, of an impulse response signature which is characteristic of the SAW sensor, a second step of gathering a signal received as echo originating from the SAW sensor, a third step of determining a maximum of cross-correlation of the signal received as echo during the second step, the first step being applied with a set of values of the dilation coefficient k in a determined domain, the measurement of a physical parameter then being determined by the dilation coefficient k for which the power or the amplitude of the signal gathered as echo is a maximum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2016
    Assignee: SENSEOR
    Inventors: Sylvain Ballandras, Jean-Michel Friedt, Thibault Retornaz