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).

  • Patent number: 8093962
    Abstract: A filter has a plurality of piezoelectric thin film resonators formed by sandwiching a piezoelectric film with a lower electrode disposed on a substrate and an upper electrode. Each of the piezoelectric thin film resonators has an electrode region formed with the upper electrode and the lower electrode overlapping each other, whose outline includes a curve. Among the plural piezoelectric thin film resonators, the piezoelectric thin film resonators in the opposing electrode regions of the adjacent piezoelectric thin film resonators are shaped to have outlines complementary to each other. With the filter, influences caused by transverse mode undesired wave of the piezoelectric thin film resonators can be suppressed. Therefore, miniaturization can be achieved without sacrificing the mechanical strength of electrodes having hollow structures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinji Taniguchi, Tokihiro Nishihara, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Masafumi Iwaki, Motoaki Hara, Takeshi Sakashita, Masanori Ueda
  • Patent number: 8084919
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin film resonator includes a substrate, a lower electrode formed on the substrate, a piezoelectric film formed on the lower electrode, and an upper electrode formed on the piezoelectric film, the lower electrode and the upper electrode opposing each other through the piezoelectric film to form an opposing region, the opposing region including a space at a boundary of the opposing region. The space extends from an innerside to an outer side of the opposing region and is formed in or on the piezoelectric film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tokihiro Nishihara, Motoaki Hara, Shinji Taniguchi, Takeshi Sakashita, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Masafumi Iwaki, Masanori Ueda
  • Patent number: 8085115
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin film resonator includes a substrate, a lower electrode formed on the substrate, a piezoelectric film formed on the substrate and the lower electrode, and an upper electrode formed on the piezoelectric film and opposing the lower electrode, an upper electrode formed on the piezoelectric film. The upper electrode has a main portion and an extended portion connected to the main portion, the main portion opposing the lower electrode and an opening disposed between the substrate and the lower electrode, the extended portion having a portion which opposes the opening and the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Shinji Taniguchi, Tokihiro Nishihara, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Masafumi Iwaki, Motoaki Hara, Masanori Ueda
  • Publication number: 20110267155
    Abstract: A filter element includes a plurality of multilayer filters that are connected in cascade, each of the plurality of multilayer filters including a plurality of piezoelectric thin-film resonators stacked vertically, each of the piezoelectric thin-film resonators including a piezoelectric film and a pair of first electrodes between which the piezoelectric film is interposed, and a capacitor connected between an input terminal of one of the plurality of multilayer filters of a preceding stage and an input terminal of another one of the plurality of multilayer filters of a following stage, exciting directions of piezoelectric thin-film resonators to which the input terminals of the multilayer filters of the preceding and following stages are connected being opposite to each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2011
    Publication date: November 3, 2011
    Applicant: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Motoaki HARA, Shinji TANIGUCHI, Takeshi SAKASHITA, Tsuyoshi YOKOYAMA, Masafumi IWAKI, Tokihiro NISHIHARA, Masanori UEDA
  • Publication number: 20110241800
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing an elastic wave device is provided with a lamination step of forming, on a substrate (1), a plurality of elastic wave devices, each of which includes a lower electrode (2), a piezoelectric film (3), and an upper electrode (4); a measuring step for measuring the operation frequency distribution of the elastic wave devices on the substrate (1); and an adjusting step for forming an adjusting region, in which the thickness of the elastic wave device is different from the thicknesses of other portions in a resonance portion of each elastic wave device, corresponding with the distribution of the operation frequencies. The adjusting region is formed so that the size of the area of the adjusting region of the resonator portion of each elastic wave device is different in accordance with the operation frequency distribution that is measured. Thus, the frequency characteristics of the elastic wave devices are easily adjusted by a small number of steps.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 28, 2008
    Publication date: October 6, 2011
    Applicant: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Shinji Taniguchi, Masafumi Iwaki, Motoaki Hara, Takeshi Sakashita, Tokihiro Nishihara, Masanori Ueda
  • Publication number: 20110227807
    Abstract: A ladder type filter includes series resonators S1˜S4 connected in series between an input terminal In and an output terminal Out, parallel resonators P1˜P3 connected in parallel between the input terminal In and the output terminal Out, a resonator RP connected in series with the series resonators S1˜S4 between the input terminal and the output terminal, the resonator RP having a resonance frequency lower than resonance frequencies of the series resonators S1˜S4, and an inductor Lp connected in parallel with the resonator. According to the present ladder filter, signals having frequencies away from the pass band can be suppressed by an attenuation pole formed by the inductor. It is further possible to suppress the insertion loss in the pass band by the resonator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 28, 2008
    Publication date: September 22, 2011
    Applicant: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masafumi Iwaki, Tokihiro Nishihara, Masanori Ueda
  • Patent number: 8018298
    Abstract: An acoustic wave device includes a first resonator having a piezoelectric substance sandwiched between a pair of electrodes in a direction of an c-axis orientation or a polarization axis, and a second resonator that is connected in series and has another piezoelectric substance sandwiched another pair of electrodes so that one of the another pair of electrodes located in the direction of the c-axis orientation or the polarization axis is at a potential equal to that of one of the pair of electrodes of the first resonator in the direction of the c-axis orientation or the polarization axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2011
    Assignee: Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masanori Ueda, Masafumi Iwaki, Tokihiro Nishihara, Shinji Taniguchi, Go Endo, Yasuo Ebata
  • Patent number: 7952257
    Abstract: There is provided a piezoelectric thin-film resonator including a substrate, a lower electrode disposed on the substrate, a piezoelectric film disposed on the lower electrode, an upper electrode disposed on the piezoelectric film in such a manner that a portion of the upper electrode is opposed to the lower electrode, and a mass element disposed on the upper electrode in a portion of an edge of the region of the upper electrode in which the upper electrode and the lower electrode are opposed to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Assignee: Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masafumi Iwaki, Tokihiro Nishihara, Masanori Ueda
  • Patent number: 7884527
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin-film resonator includes: a substrate; a lower electrode that is formed on the substrate; a piezoelectric film that is formed on the lower electrode and the substrate; and an upper electrode that is formed on the piezoelectric film, with the piezoelectric film being partially interposed between the lower electrode and the upper electrode facing each other. In this piezoelectric thin-film resonator, at least a part of the outer periphery of the piezoelectric film interposed between the lower electrode and the upper electrode overlaps the outer periphery of the region formed by the upper electrode and the lower electrode facing each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2011
    Assignee: Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jun Tsutsumi, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Takeshi Sakashita, Shinji Taniguchi, Masafumi Iwaki, Tokihiro Nishihara, Masanori Ueda
  • Patent number: 7872548
    Abstract: An antenna duplexer is provided, which can be built with a smaller size and lower height than ever without compromising out-of-band attenuation characteristic and isolation characteristic between a transmit terminal and a receive terminal. The antenna duplexer includes a transmit filter provided between an antenna terminal and the transmit terminal, and a receive filter provided between the antenna terminal and the receive terminal. The filters are enclosed by a package, in which a ground pattern for the receive filter is separated from other ground patterns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2011
    Assignee: Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Tokihiro Nishihara, Masafumi Iwaki, Shinji Taniguchi, Masanori Ueda, Go Endo, Koichi Hatano
  • Publication number: 20110006860
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin film resonator of the present has a substrate 1, an intermediate layer 7 disposed on the substrate 1 and is formed of an insulator, a lower electrode 3 disposed on the intermediate layer 7, a piezoelectric film 4 disposed on the lower electrode 3, and an upper electrode 5 disposed on a position facing the lower electrode 3 with the piezoelectric film 4 interposed therebetween, in which, in a resonant region 8 where the lower electrode 3 and the upper electrode 5 face each other, a space 6 is formed in the substrate 1 and the intermediate layer 7 or between the lower electrode 3 and the intermediate layer 7 and the region of the space 6 is included in the resonant region 8. With the structure, the dissipation of the vibrational energy to the substrate from the resonance portion can be suppressed, thereby improving the quality factor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2008
    Publication date: January 13, 2011
    Applicant: TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Motoaki Hara, Tokihiro Nishihara, Shinji Taniguchi, Takeshi Sakashita, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Masafumi Iwaki, Masanori Ueda
  • Patent number: 7816998
    Abstract: A film bulk acoustic resonator includes a lower electrode that is formed on a void of a substrate or is formed so that a void is formed between the lower electrode and the substrate, a piezoelectric film that is formed on the lower electrode, an upper electrode that is formed on the piezoelectric film so as to have a resonance region facing the lower electrode through the piezoelectric film, a support region that is provided around the resonance region, has a width of 0.35 times to 0.65 times a wavelength of a wave propagating in a lateral direction, and transmits the wave passes, and an adjacent region that is provided around the support region and blocks the wave.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2010
    Assignees: Fujitsu Media Devices Limited, Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Motoaki Hara, Tokihiro Nishihara, Masanori Ueda, Go Endo
  • Publication number: 20100237750
    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: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2009
    Publication date: September 23, 2010
    Applicant: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventors: Takeshi SAKASHITA, Motoaki Hara, Masafumi Iwaki, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Shinji Taniguchi, Tokihiro Nishihara, Masanori Ueda
  • Patent number: 7786649
    Abstract: A filter includes piezoelectric thin-film resonators having a substrate, a lower electrode supported by the substrate, a piezoelectric film provided on the lower electrode, and an upper electrode provided on the piezoelectric film. At least one of the piezoelectric thin-film resonators has a portion in which the upper electrode overlaps the lower electrode across the piezoelectric film. The above portion has a shape different from shapes of corresponding portions of other piezoelectric thin-film resonators, so that a spurious component in the above at least one of the piezoelectric thin-film resonators occur at a frequency different from frequencies of spurious components that occur in the other piezoelectric thin-film resonators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2010
    Assignees: Fujitsu Media Devices Limited, Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tokihiro Nishihara, Shinji Taniguchi, Masafumi Iwaki, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Takeshi Sakashita, Masanori Ueda, Yasuyuki Saitou
  • Patent number: 7755453
    Abstract: A duplexer includes an antenna terminal, a first filter connected to the antenna terminal, a second filter that has a passband at a high-frequency side of the first filter and is connected to the antenna terminal, and a resonance circuit that is connected between the second filter and the antenna terminal and includes a first inductor and a first capacitor connected in parallel. Assuming that a passband frequency of the first filter ranges from f1Low to f1High (f1Low˜f1High) and a passband frequency ranges from f2Low to f2High (f2Low˜f2High), the resonator has a resonance frequency fr satisfying: fr=(f2Low˜f2High)±(f1Low˜f1High), or fr=2(f1Low˜f1High)±(f2Low˜f2High).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2010
    Assignees: Fujitsu Media Devices Limited, Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masafumi Iwaki, Tokihiro Nishihara, Masanori Ueda, Go Endo
  • Patent number: 7741930
    Abstract: There is provided a filter including a first resonator, a second resonator in which an excitation efficiency is reduced more than the first resonator, and an inductor connected in parallel with the second resonator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2010
    Assignees: Fujitsu Media Devices Limited, Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Shogo Inoue, Tokihiro Nishihara, Takashi Matsuda, Masanori Ueda
  • Publication number: 20100148888
    Abstract: The filter includes a series arm piezoelectric thin film resonator placed in the series arm and a parallel arm piezoelectric thin film resonator placed in the parallel arm. Each of the series arm piezoelectric thin film resonator and the parallel arm piezoelectric thin film resonator includes a substrate (21), a lower electrode (22) placed on the substrate (21), a piezoelectric film (23) placed on the lower electrode (22) and a upper electrode (24) placed on the piezoelectric film (23). The ratio of the major axis length A to the minor axis length B of the resonant portion (29) in the series arm piezoelectric thin film resonator is larger than that in the parallel arm piezoelectric thin film resonator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2010
    Publication date: June 17, 2010
    Applicants: FUJITSU LIMITED, FUJITSU MEDIA DEVICES LIMITED
    Inventors: Motoaki HARA, Tokihiro NISHIHARA, Shinji TANIGUCHI, Takeshi SAKASHITA, Tsuyoshi YOKOYAMA, Masafumi IWAKI, Masanori UEDA, Yasuyuki SAITOU
  • Publication number: 20100148636
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin film resonant element includes a resonant portion having a laminate structure made up of a lower electrode, an upper electrode and a piezoelectric film arranged between these two electrodes. The lower electrode has an ellipsoidal plan-view shape and an outer circumference formed with an inclined portion inclined at an angle (about 30° for example) lying within a range of 25° through 55°. The upper electrode has an ellipsoidal plan-view shape. An additional film is provided on the upper electrode at a portion corresponding to the inclined portion of the lower electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2009
    Publication date: June 17, 2010
    Applicant: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventors: Tokihiro Nishihara, Motoaki Hara, Shinji Taniguchi, Masafumi Iwaki, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Masanori Ueda
  • Patent number: 7737806
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin-film resonator includes: a lower electrode that is formed on a substrate; a piezoelectric film that is formed on the substrate and the lower electrode; an upper electrode that is formed on the piezoelectric film, with a portion of the piezoelectric film being interposed between the lower electrode and the upper electrode facing each other; and an additional film that is formed on the substrate on at least a part of the outer periphery of the lower electrode at the portion at which the lower electrode and the upper electrode face each other, with the additional film being laid along the lower electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2010
    Assignees: Fujitsu Media Devices Limited, Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Shinji Taniguchi, Tokihiro Nishihara, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Masafumi Iwaki, Motoaki Hara, Go Endo, Yasuyuki Saitou, Masanori Ueda
  • Patent number: RE41813
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin-film resonator includes a substrate, a lower electrode arranged on the substrate, a piezoelectric film arranged on the lower electrode, and an upper electrode arranged on the piezoelectric film. A region in which the upper electrode overlaps with the lower electrode through the piezoelectric film has an elliptical shape, and a condition such that 1<a/b<1.9 is satisfied where a is a main axis of the elliptical shape, and b is a sub axis thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2010
    Assignees: Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd., Fujitsu Media Devices Limited
    Inventors: Tokihiro Nishihara, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Takeshi Sakashita, Masafumi Iwaki, Tsutomu Miyashita