Patents by Inventor Tokihiro Nishihara

Tokihiro Nishihara 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: 20170207768
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin film resonator includes: an acoustic reflection layer including an air gap or an acoustic mirror; lower and upper electrodes facing each other in a stacking direction, at least a part of each of the lower and upper electrodes being located on or above the acoustic reflection layer; a piezoelectric film sandwiched between the lower and upper electrodes and including lower and upper piezoelectric films, at least a part of an end face of the piezoelectric film in a film thickness direction being located between outer outlines of the resonance region and the acoustic reflection layer in at least a part of a region surrounding a resonance region; and an insertion film inserted between the lower and upper piezoelectric films, located in at least a part of an outer peripheral region within the resonance region, and not located in a center region of the resonance region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2016
    Publication date: July 20, 2017
    Applicant: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jiansong LIU, Tsuyoshi YOKOYAMA, Hiroomi KANEKO, Shinji TANIGUCHI, Tokihiro NISHIHARA
  • Patent number: 9712135
    Abstract: An acoustic wave filter includes series resonators and parallel resonators that have a piezoelectric film on an identical substrate and have a lower electrode and an upper electrode, wherein: one of the series resonators and the parallel resonators have a temperature compensation film on a face of the lower electrode or the upper electrode that is opposite to the piezoelectric film in a resonance region, the compensation film having an elastic constant of a temperature coefficient of which sign is opposite to a sign of a temperature coefficient of an elastic constant of the piezoelectric film; and the other have an added film on the same side as the temperature compensation film on the lower electrode side or the upper electrode side compared to the piezoelectric film in the resonance region in the one of the series resonators and the parallel resonators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tokihiro Nishihara, Shinji Taniguchi
  • Publication number: 20170170807
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin film resonator includes: a substrate; a lower electrode and an upper electrode located on the substrate; a piezoelectric film, at least a part of the piezoelectric film being sandwiched between the upper electrode and the lower electrode, the piezoelectric film including a discontinuous portion in which the piezoelectric film discontinues in at least a part of a region surrounding a center region that includes a center of a resonance region where the upper electrode and the lower electrode face each other across the at least a part of the piezoelectric film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2016
    Publication date: June 15, 2017
    Applicant: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi YOKOYAMA, Takeshi SAKASHITA, Shinji TANIGUCHI, Tokihiro NISHIHARA
  • Patent number: 9595941
    Abstract: A filter includes: piezoelectric thin film resonators, each including a substrate, a piezoelectric film located on the substrate, a lower electrode and an upper electrode facing each other across at least a part of the piezoelectric film, and an insertion film inserted in the piezoelectric film, located in at least a part of an outer peripheral region within a resonance region, and not located in a center region of the resonance region, the resonance region being a region where the lower electrode and the upper electrode face each other across the piezoelectric film, wherein at least two piezoelectric thin film resonators out of the piezoelectric thin film resonators have different widths of the insertion films within the resonance regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tokihiro Nishihara, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Takeshi Sakashita, Shinji Taniguchi
  • Patent number: 9559291
    Abstract: An acoustic wave device includes: a substrate; a piezoelectric film located on the substrate; a lower electrode and an upper electrode facing each other across the piezoelectric film, at least one of the lower electrode and the upper electrode including a first conductive film and a second conductive film formed on the first conductive film; an insulating film sandwiched between the first conductive film and the second conductive film and having a temperature coefficient of an elastic constant opposite in sign to a temperature coefficient of an elastic constant of the piezoelectric film; and a third conductive film formed on edge surfaces of the insulating film and the second conductive film and causing electrical short circuits between the first conductive film and the second conductive film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinji Taniguchi, Tokihiro Nishihara
  • Publication number: 20170019085
    Abstract: An acoustic wave filter includes: series resonators connected in series; and one or more parallel resonators connected in parallel, wherein at least two series resonators and a parallel resonator therebetween are divided into a first divided resonator, which includes a piezoelectric substance sandwiched between a pair of electrodes in a c-axis orientation direction, and a second divided resonator, which includes another piezoelectric substance sandwiched between another pair of electrodes so that the another pair of electrodes in the c-axis orientation direction has an electric potential opposite to that of the electrodes of the first divided resonator in the c-axis orientation direction, a first group including the first divided resonators and a second group including the second divided resonators are interconnected in parallel between two nodes, and the first divided resonators and the second divided resonators of the at least two series resonators are not electrically interconnected at the two nodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 6, 2016
    Publication date: January 19, 2017
    Applicant: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masumi KIDA, Tokihiro NISHIHARA, Yoshio SATO, Shinji TANIGUCHI, Taisei IRIEDA
  • Patent number: 9531342
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin film resonator includes: a substrate; a piezoelectric film provided on the substrate; a lower electrode and an upper electrode that are opposed to each other to put at least a part of the piezoelectric film therebetween; and an insertion film that is inserted into the piezoelectric film in a resonance region where at least the part of the piezoelectric film is put between the lower electrode and the upper electrode, at least a part of the insertion film corresponding to an outer circumference region in the resonance region being thicker than a part of the insertion film corresponding to a central region in the resonance region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinji Taniguchi, Tokihiro Nishihara, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Takeshi Sakashita
  • Patent number: 9496848
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin-film resonator includes, a substrate, a piezoelectric film provided on the substrate, and a lower electrode and an upper electrode that face each other through the piezoelectric film. The piezoelectric film has an air space that is provided in at least part of an outer circumferential part of a resonance region in which the upper and lower electrodes face each other through the piezoelectric film and is not provided in a central part of the resonance region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Tokihiro Nishihara, Takeshi Sakashita
  • Patent number: 9444429
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin-film resonator includes: a substrate; a piezoelectric film having a lower piezoelectric film provided on the substrate and an upper piezoelectric film provided on the lower piezoelectric film; lower and upper electrodes that face each other through at least a part of the piezoelectric film; an interposed film that is interposed between the lower piezoelectric film and the upper piezoelectric film and is located in an outer circumferential part of a resonance region in which the lower and upper electrodes face each other through the piezoelectric film, the interposed film not being provided in a central part of the resonance region; an upper surface of the lower piezoelectric film having a first roughness in a region in which the interposed film is not provided and a second roughness in another region in which the interposed film is provided, the first roughness being smaller than the second roughness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takeshi Sakashita, Tokihiro Nishihara, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama
  • Patent number: 9356573
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin film resonator includes: a piezoelectric film provided on a substrate; a lower electrode and an upper electrode sandwiching at least a part of the piezoelectric film and facing with each other; and an inserted film that is inserted in the piezoelectric film, is provided in an outer circumference region of a resonance region and is not provided in a center region of the resonance region, wherein: an angle between an edge face of the lower electrode and a lower face of the lower electrode in the resonance region is an acute angle; and a width of the inserted film in the resonance region on a side for extracting the upper electrode from the resonance region is larger than another width of the inserted film in the resonance region on a side for extracting the lower electrode from the resonance region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2016
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Tokihiro Nishihara, Takeshi Sakashita
  • Publication number: 20160142038
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin film resonator includes: a substrate; a piezoelectric film located on the substrate; a lower electrode and an upper electrode facing each other across at least a part of the piezoelectric film; and an insertion film inserted in the piezoelectric film, located in at least a part of an outer peripheral region within a resonance region where the lower electrode and the upper electrode face each other across the piezoelectric film, and not located in a center region of the resonance region, wherein a difference between a total film thickness of the piezoelectric film and the insertion film in a first region, in which the insertion film is inserted, within the resonance region and a film thickness of the piezoelectric film in a second region, in which the insertion film is not inserted, is less than a film thickness of the insertion film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2015
    Publication date: May 19, 2016
    Applicant: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinji TANIGUCHI, Tokihiro NISHIHARA, Tsuyoshi YOKOYAMA, Takeshi SAKASHITA
  • Patent number: 9344059
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin film resonator includes: a substrate; a piezoelectric film located on the substrate; a lower electrode and an upper electrode facing each other across at least a part of the piezoelectric film; and an insertion film that is inserted into the piezoelectric film, is located in at least a part of an outer periphery region in a resonance region in which the lower electrode and the upper electrode face each other across the piezoelectric film, and is not located in a center region of the resonance region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tokihiro Nishihara, Takeshi Sakashita
  • Publication number: 20160028371
    Abstract: A filter includes: piezoelectric thin film resonators, each including a substrate, a piezoelectric film located on the substrate, a lower electrode and an upper electrode facing each other across at least a part of the piezoelectric film, and an insertion film inserted in the piezoelectric film, located in at least a part of an outer peripheral region within a resonance region, and not located in a center region of the resonance region, the resonance region being a region where the lower electrode and the upper electrode face each other across the piezoelectric film, wherein at least two piezoelectric thin film resonators out of the piezoelectric thin film resonators have different widths of the insertion films within the resonance regions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2015
    Publication date: January 28, 2016
    Applicant: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tokihiro NISHIHARA, Tsuyoshi YOKOYAMA, Takeshi SAKASHITA, Shinji TANIGUCHI
  • Patent number: 9240769
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin film resonator includes a substrate, a lower electrode provided on the substrate, a piezoelectric film provided on the lower electrode, and an upper electrode provided on the piezoelectric film. At least a portion of the upper electrode and that of the lower electrode oppose each other through the piezoelectric film, and at least a portion of the periphery of the upper electrode is reversely tapered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2016
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takeshi Sakashita, Motoaki Hara, Masafumi Iwaki, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Shinji Taniguchi, Tokihiro Nishihara, Masanori Ueda
  • Patent number: 9240768
    Abstract: A duplexer includes a transmission filter and a reception filter having different passbands, wherein: first resonators that are series resonators or parallel resonators included in the transmission and reception filters so as to form a skirt characteristic at a guard band side are a temperature compensated type piezoelectric thin film resonator or a surface acoustic wave resonator using Love waves, and second resonators that form a skirt characteristic at an opposite side to the guard band are one of a temperature non-compensated type piezoelectric thin film resonator, a surface acoustic wave resonator using a lithium tantalate substrate or a substrate made by bonding a lithium tantalate substrate on a sapphire substrate, and a surface acoustic wave resonator using Love waves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2016
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tokihiro Nishihara, Shinji Taniguchi
  • Patent number: 9236848
    Abstract: The filter includes: a primary transducer connected to a primary terminal; a secondary transducer connected to a plurality of secondary terminals; and a coupling transducer for mechanically coupling the primary transducer and the secondary transducer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masanori Ueda, Takashi Matsuda, Tokihiro Nishihara
  • Patent number: 9184725
    Abstract: An acoustic wave device includes: a substrate; a lower electrode formed on the substrate; at least two piezoelectric films formed on the lower electrode; an insulating film located between the at least two piezoelectric films; and an upper electrode formed on the at least two piezoelectric films, wherein an outer periphery of an uppermost piezoelectric film out of the at least two piezoelectric films in a region in which the lower electrode and the upper electrode face each other is positioned further in than an outer periphery of the upper electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2015
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinji Taniguchi, Tokihiro Nishihara, Masanori Ueda, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Takeshi Sakashita
  • Patent number: 9166557
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin film resonator includes: a substrate; a piezoelectric film located on the substrate; a lower electrode and an upper electrode located to sandwich the piezoelectric film; a load film formed from patterns in a resonance region in which the lower electrode and the upper electrode face each other across the piezoelectric film, wherein the patterns are formed so as to surround a center of the resonance region and intersect with a pathway extending from the center to an outer periphery of the resonance region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kenya Hashimoto, Jiansong Liu, Masanori Ueda, Shinji Taniguchi, Tokihiro Nishihara
  • Patent number: 9148107
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing an acoustic wave device includes: bonding a piezoelectric substrate to a first surface of a first support substrate; thinning the piezoelectric substrate after the bonding to thus form a piezoelectric layer; forming a first electrode on a first surface of the piezoelectric layer; forming holes in the first support substrate located below the first electrode; and bonding a second support substrate to a second surface of the first support substrate opposite to the first surface after the forming of holes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2015
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masanori Ueda, Masafumi Iwaki, Tokihiro Nishihara
  • Patent number: 9124242
    Abstract: A filter includes a plurality of primary resonators connected to a serial arm, a plurality of secondary resonators connected to a parallel arm, a primary inductor connected to at least one of the plurality of primary resonators and a secondary inductor connected to at least one of the plurality of secondary resonators. The primary inductor is arranged so as not to be connected to a path between the secondary resonator to which the secondary inductor is connected in parallel and the primary resonator that is connected to the secondary resonator to which the secondary inductor is connected in parallel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masanori Ueda, Takashi Matsuda, Tokihiro Nishihara