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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8169855 | Ultrasonic sensor unit and electronic device An ultrasonic sensor unit includes an ultrasonic transmission sensor array having a plurality of ultrasonic transmission sensors configured and arranged to transmit ultrasonic waves, and an ultrasonic reception sensor array having a plurality of ultrasonic reception... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8089828 | Acoustic sensor element A micromechanical acoustic sensor element, which has at least one diaphragm and at least one fixed counter element, the diaphragm being situated in a cavity between a substrate and the counter element and acting as movable electrode of a capacitor system, the counte... | 01/03/2012 |
| 7995423 | Ultrasound transducer and ultrasound diagnostic apparatus This invention includes a first electrode which is fixed on a base, a vibration film which is disposed to oppose the first electrode with an air and vacuum portion between the vibration film and the first electrode, a second electrode which is supported by the vibra... | 08/09/2011 |
| 7940603 | Ultrasonic transducer cell An ultrasonic transducer cell according to the present invention includes: a substrate; a charge holding portion provided on the substrate; a lower electrode provided on the charge holding portion and used to input and output a signal; and a vibration membrane provi... | 05/10/2011 |
| 7839722 | Microfabricated acoustic transducer with a multilayer electrode In a capacitive membrane ultrasound transducer, one or more electrodes include multiple layers of conductive or semiconductive material. The layers may be positioned adjacent an insulator or cavity in an arrangement to reduce electrical degradation. For example, a c... | 11/23/2010 |
| 7800981 | High efficiency portable seismograph for measuring seismic tremor Portable seismograph (1) comprising a support and containment structure (2), a bottom portion (3) of which is made of a material having a seismic impedance value ranging between 2×105 and 4×106 kg/m2s, three se... | 09/21/2010 |
| 7778113 | Ultrasonic transducer and manufacturing method thereof A technology capable of improving receiver sensitivity and improving insulation withstand voltage in an ultrasonic transducer is provided. An ultrasonic transducer comprises: a lower electrode; an insulator covering the lower electrode; a cavity portion disposed on ... | 08/17/2010 |
| 7626891 | Capacitive ultrasonic transducer and method of fabricating the same A capacitive ultrasonic transducer includes a first electrode, an insulating layer formed on the first electrode, at least one support frame formed on the insulating layer, and a second electrode formed spaced apart from the first electrode, wherein the first electr... | 12/01/2009 |
| 7512038 | Ultrasonic transducer and manufacturing method This invention provides a technique whereby, even if a step is produced by splitting a lower electrode into component elements, resistance increase of an upper electrode, damage to a membrane and decrease of dielectric strength between an upper electrode and the low... | 03/31/2009 |
| 7489593 | Electrostatic membranes for sensors, ultrasonic transducers incorporating such membranes, and manufacturing methods therefor A micro-machined ultrasonic transducer substrate for immersion operation is formed by a particular arrangement of a plurality of micro-machined membranes that are supported on a silicon substrate. The membranes, together with the substrate, form surface microcavitie... | 02/10/2009 |
| 7436736 | Hydrophone array module A hydrophone array includes hydrophones having an electret means and may have TFT FETs to generate current in response to received longitudinal wave signals. The arrangement may also be used to transmit longitudinal wave signals. Storage capacitors may be coupled to... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7412763 | Method of making an acoustic assembly for a transducer A method of making an acoustic assembly for use in a transducer includes forming a multi-layer assembly. The multi-layer assembly includes a first layer member and a second layer member. Each member includes a center portion, an edge portion and an aperture separati... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7408283 | Micromachined ultrasonic transducer cells having compliant support structure A micromachined ultrasonic transducer array comprising a multiplicity of cMUT cells built on a substrate. Each cMUT cell comprises a compliant support structure built on the substrate, a membrane supported over a cavity by the compliant support structure, a first el... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7362873 | Miniature condenser microphone and fabrication method therefor An acoustic pressure type sensor fabricated on a supporting substrate is disclosed. The acoustic sensor is fabricated by depositing and etching a number of thin films on the supporting substrate and by machining the supporting substrate. The resulting structure cont... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7359286 | Multi-level capacitive ultrasonic transducer The invention concerns a capacitive ultrasonic transducer, comprising an external layer operating as an external plate, provided with electrode means, capable to vibrate, and a stiff substrate, in turn provided with electrode means, wherein it further comprises n le... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7348646 | Micromechanical capacitive transducer and method for manufacturing the same A micromechanical capacitive converter and a method for manufacturing a micromechanical converter comprise a movable membrane and an electrically conductive face element in a carrier layer. The electrically conductive face element is arranged opposite the membrane a... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7329933 | Silicon microphone with softly constrained diaphragm A microphone sensing element and a method for making the same are disclosed. The sensing element has a diaphragm and an attached electrical lead-out arm preferably made of polysilicon that are separated by an air gap from an underlying backplate region created on a ... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7322930 | Implantable microphone having sensitivity and frequency response Implantable microphone devices that may be utilized in hearing systems are provided. An implantable microphone device allows the implantable microphone's frequency response and sensitivity to be selected. A microphone device with an increased membrane flexibility an... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7317234 | Means of integrating a microphone in a standard integrated circuit process A means of integrating a microphone on the same integrated circuit die as other electronics in the system is disclosed. The structure uses solder bump technology to form a gap between an electrode on the silicon and another electrode. Charge is stored on the capacit... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7305096 | Dynamic pressure sensing structure A dynamic pressure sensing structure used in a condenser microphone includes an upper electrode plate, a lower electrode plate, a spacer and a substrate, wherein the upper and lower electrode plates are separated by the spacer and form a resonance cavity with the su... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7291561 | MEMS device integrated chip package, and method of making same The present invention relates to a chip package that includes a semiconductor device and at least one micro electromechanical structure (MEMS) such that the semiconductor device and the MEMS form an integrated package. One embodiment of the present invention include... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7289638 | Electroacoustic microphone An electroacoustic capsule or electroacoustic transducer for an electroacoustic device has electrostrictive or magnetostrictive elements connected to a controllable power supply. Dimensional changes of the electrostrictive or magnetostrictive elements cause changes ... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7288424 | Integrated driver process flow An integrated device includes one or more device drivers and a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) structure monolithically coupled to the one or more device drivers. The one or more device drivers are configured to process received control signals and to transmi... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7284431 | Geophone An improved system for sensing ground motion is provided. The system generally comprises a shell and a case within the shell and connected by a suspension. The mass of the case is greater than the mass of the shell. An electrode within the shell detects relative mot... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7280435 | Switching circuitry for reconfigurable arrays of sensor elements A device comprising an array of sensors that are reconfigurable by means of a switching network. The sensors may be optical, thermal or pressure sensors or ultrasonic transducers. More specifically, the device comprises: a multiplicity of sensor elements; a pluralit... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7280436 | Miniature acoustic detector based on electron surface tunneling An electronic surface tunneling acoustic detector or microphone with very high sensitivity is disclosed. A tunneling tip is mounted on a rigid perforated suspension plate, along with control electrodes, which are used to move a conductive membrane suspended above th... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7257051 | Integrated interface electronics for reconfigurable sensor array An integrated switch matrix for reconfiguring subelements of a mosaic sensor array to form elements. The configuration of the switch matrix is fully programmable. The switch matrix includes access switches that connect subelements to bus lines and matrix switches th... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7253016 | Micromechanical capacitive transducer and method for producing the same A micromechanical capacitive converter and a method for manufacturing a micromechanical converter comprise a movable membrane and an electrically conductive face element in a carrier layer. The electrically conductive face element is arranged opposite the membrane a... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7224098 | Ultrasonic transducer and method of manufacturing ultrasonic transducer The present invention relates to an ultrasonic transducer that has a diaphragm in which an electrode layer is formed thereon. A fixed electrode having a plurality of asperities on the surface facing the diaphragm is provided. An alternating current signal is applied... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7221767 | Surface mountable transducer system The present invention relates to a surface mountable acoustic transducer system, comprising one or more transducers, a processing circuit electrically connected to the one or more transducers, and contact points arranged on an exterior surface part of the transducer... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7204009 | Manufacturing method of acoustic sensor The present invention relates to a semiconductor electret condenser microphone capable of being reduced in size and including an acoustic sensor 100 and a case 200 for accommodating the acoustic sensor 100, the acoustic sensor 100 has a s... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7190038 | Micromechanical sensors and methods of manufacturing same A micromechanical sensor and, in particular, a silicon microphone, includes a movable membrane and a counter element in which perforation openings are formed, opposite to the movable membrane via a cavity. The perforation openings are formed by slots, the width of w... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7154813 | Pressure sensitive sensor for real-time reconfigurable sonar applications A sensor with sound navigation and ranging applications is presented. The invention includes a pressure conduction composite sandwiched between electrically conductive elements so as to sense pressure associated with an acoustic wave via a change in conductance with... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7146016 | Miniature condenser microphone and fabrication method therefor An acoustic pressure type sensor fabricated on a supporting substrate is disclosed. The acoustic sensor is fabricated by depositing and etching a number of thin films on the supporting substrate and by machining the supporting substrate. The resulting structure cont... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7142682 | Silicon-based transducer for use in hearing instruments and listening devices A silicon-based transducer assembly coupled to a movable structure in a hearing instrument. The transducer assembly includes at least one microphone chip and an ASIC having multiple integrated components such as any combination of a DSP, an A/D converter, an amplifi... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7139532 | Combined T/R switch with LNA and a method of improving the performance of a receiver In accordance with the present invention, a receiver circuit and a method of controlling voltage pulses, thereby improving the performance of the receiver are provided. The receiver circuit includes a switch for blocking high voltages and for converting voltage sign... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7136496 | Electret assembly for a microphone having a backplate with improved charge stability The present invention relates to a microphone that includes a housing and a diaphragm and backplate located with the housing. The housing has a sound port for receiving the sound. The diaphragm undergoes movement relative to the backplate, which it opposes, in respo... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7132307 | High performance silicon condenser microphone with perforated single crystal silicon backplate A silicon condenser microphone is described. The silicon condenser microphone of the present invention comprises a perforated backplate comprising a portion of a single crystal silicon substrate, a support structure formed on the single crystal silicon substrate, an... | 11/07/2006 |
| 7117134 | Method to optimize generation of ultrasound using mathematical modeling for laser ultrasound inspection The invention is directed to a laser ultrasound testing system with adaptive generation of sonic energy signals. The system may detect or test features of the manufactured object such as defects and layer properties. A laser generator initiates a sonic energy signal... | 10/03/2006 |
| 7089069 | Method and apparatus for reconstruction of soundwaves from digital signals Each of a plurality of speaklets (MEMS membranes) produces a stream of clicks (discrete pulses of acoustic energy) that are summed to generate the desired soundwave. The speaklets are selected to be energized based on the value of a digital signal. The greater the s... | 08/08/2006 |
