Patent US6437482B1 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US6437482B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Piezoelectric resonator
Assignee: Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd
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Filing: 2000-04-11
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Granted: 2002-08-20
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Expires: 2020-04-11
Abstract
Abstract A piezoelectric resonator using a thickness extensional vibration mode, comprises a vibrator portion made up of two or more layers of piezoelectric thin-films where the piezoelectric thin-films and a plurality of insulating thin films are alternately laminated. An alternating voltage is independently applied to each layer of the piezoelectric thin-films for a higher-order vibration mode to be dominantly excited.
Inventors
- 👤 Akihiko Shibata
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-07 15:49
CPC Classifications
H; H03; H03H; H03H9/00; H03H9/02; H03H9/02007; H03H9/02015; H03H3/00; H03H3/007; H03H3/02; H03H9/15; H03H9/17; H03H9/178; H03H9/02062; H03H9/02078; H03H9/02086; H03H9/171; H03H9/02094; H03H9/172; H03H9/173; H03H9/174
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 38
Claim 1
Independent Claim
103 words
A piezoelectric resonator using a thickness extensional vibration mode, the piezoelectric resonator comprising a vibrator portion made up of n layers of piezoelectric thin-film, n being an integer greater than or equal to 2, each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers being separated by a respective insulating thin-film layer, the distance d n to the center of each of the n piezoelectric thin-film layers from a first side of the vibrator portion, being determined by the formula d n =t (2 m −1)/2 n wherein t is the thickness of the vibrator portion and m is an integer less than or equal to n.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
103 words
A piezoelectric resonator using a thickness extensional vibration mode, the piezoelectric resonator comprising a vibrator portion made up of n layers of piezoelectric thin-film, n being an integer greater than or equal to 2, each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers being separated by a respective insulating thin-film layer, the distance d n to the center of each of the n piezoelectric thin-film layers from a first side of the vibrator portion, being determined by the formula d n =t (2 m −1)/2 n wherein t is the thickness of the vibrator portion and m is an integer less than or equal to n.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
29 words
A piezoelectric resonator as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers comprises a generally planar piezoelectric thin-film having electrodes formed on opposite sides thereof.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
32 words
A piezoelectric resonator as claimed in claim 2 , wherein each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers and each of the insulating thin-film layers are generally planar and extend parallel to one another.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
38 words
A piezoelectric resonator as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the piezoelectric thin-films and the insulating thin film layers are made up of materials having temperature coefficients of the elastic constant whose sign is opposite to one another.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
20 words
A piezoelectric resonator as claimed in claim 1 , wherein adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers are polarized in the same direction.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
18 words
A piezoelectric resonator as claimed in claim 1 , wherein adjacent piezoelectric thin-films are polarized in opposite directions.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
33 words
A piezoelectric resonator as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the thickness t is equal to one half of the wave length of the first resonance wavelength of the thickness extension vibration mode.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
92 words
The combination of a piezoelectric resonator and a voltage source, the combination comprising: a piezoelectric resonator using a thickness extensional vibration mode, the piezoelectric resonator comprising a vibrator portion made up of n layers of piezoelectric thin-film, n being an integer greater than or equal to 2, each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers being separated by a respective insulating thin-film layer; and a voltage source for applying alternating voltages to the piezoelectric resonator in such a manner that the predominant vibration mode excited in the piezoelectric resonator is a higher-order vibration mode.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
92 words
The combination of a piezoelectric resonator and a voltage source, the combination comprising: a piezoelectric resonator using a thickness extensional vibration mode, the piezoelectric resonator comprising a vibrator portion made up of n layers of piezoelectric thin-film, n being an integer greater than or equal to 2, each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers being separated by a respective insulating thin-film layer; and a voltage source for applying alternating voltages to the piezoelectric resonator in such a manner that the predominant vibration mode excited in the piezoelectric resonator is a higher-order vibration mode.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
21 words
The combination according to claim 8 , wherein the alternating voltages are independently applied to each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
16 words
The combination of claim 8 , wherein the higher-order vibration mode is the nth vibration mode.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
62 words
The combination of claim 10 , wherein the distance d n to the center of each of the n piezoelectric thin-film layers from a first side of the vibrator portion is determined by the formula d n =t (2 m −1)/2 n wherein t is the thickness of the vibrator portion and m is an integer less than or equal to n.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
30 words
The combination of claim 11 , wherein the thickness t is equal to one half of the wave length of the first resonance wavelength of the thickness extension vibration mode.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
26 words
The combination of claim 11 , wherein each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers comprises a generally planar piezoelectric thin-film having electrodes formed on opposite sides thereof.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
28 words
The combination of claim 13 wherein each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers and each of the insulating thin-film layers are generally planar and extend parallel to one another.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
35 words
The combination of claim 14 , wherein the piezoelectric thin-films and the insulating thin film layers are made up of materials having temperature coefficients of the elastic constant whose sign is opposite to one another.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
33 words
The combination of claim 15 , wherein adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers are polarized in the same direction and the voltage source applies alternating voltages of the opposite phase to adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
33 words
The combination of claim 15 wherein adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers are polarized in opposite directions and the voltage source applies alternating voltages of the same phase to each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
34 words
The combination of claim 15 , wherein the voltage source applies alternating voltages to the piezoelectric thin-film layers in such a manner that vibrations of opposite phase are induced in adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
33 words
The combination of claim 8 , wherein adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers are polarized in the same direction and the voltage source applies alternating voltages of the opposite phase to adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
33 words
The combination of claim 8 wherein adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers are polarized in opposite directions and the voltage source applies alternating voltages of the same phase to each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
34 words
The combination of claim 8 , wherein the voltage source applies alternating voltages to the piezoelectric thin-film layers in such a manner that vibrations of opposite phase are induced in adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
82 words
A method for exciting a piezoelectric resonator in a thickness extensional vibration mode, the piezoelectric resonator comprising a vibrator portion made up of n layers of piezoelectric thin-film, n being an integer greater or equal to 2, each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers being separated by a respective insulating thin-film layer, the method comprising: applying alternating voltages to the piezoelectric thin film layers in such a manner that the predominant vibration mode excited in the piezoelectric resonator is a higher-order vibration mode.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
82 words
A method for exciting a piezoelectric resonator in a thickness extensional vibration mode, the piezoelectric resonator comprising a vibrator portion made up of n layers of piezoelectric thin-film, n being an integer greater or equal to 2, each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers being separated by a respective insulating thin-film layer, the method comprising: applying alternating voltages to the piezoelectric thin film layers in such a manner that the predominant vibration mode excited in the piezoelectric resonator is a higher-order vibration mode.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 22 , wherein the alternating voltages are independently applied to each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 22 , wherein the higher-order vibration mode is the nth vibration mode.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
62 words
The method of claim 24 , wherein the distance d n to the center of each of the n piezoelectric thin-film layers from a first side of the vibrator portion is determined by the formula d n =t (2 m −1)/2 n wherein t is the thickness of the vibrator portion and m is an integer less than or equal to n.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 25 , wherein each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers comprises a generally planar piezoelectric thin-film having electrodes formed on opposite sides thereof.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 26 wherein each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers and each of the insulating thin-film layers are generally planar and extend parallel to one another.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 27 , wherein the piezoelectric thin-films and the insulating thin film layers are made up of materials having temperature coefficients of the elastic constant whose sign is opposite to one another.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 28 , wherein adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers are polarized in the same direction and alternating voltages of the opposite phase are applied to adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 28 , wherein adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers are polarized in opposite directions and alternating voltages of the same phase are applied to each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 28 , wherein alternating voltages are applied to the piezoelectric thin-film layers in such a manner that vibrations of opposite phase are induced in adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 25 , wherein the thickness t is equal to one half of the wave length of the first resonance wavelength of the thickness extension vibration mode.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 22 , wherein adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers are polarized in the same direction and alternating voltages of the opposite phase are applied to adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 22 , wherein adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers are polarized in opposite directions and alternating voltages of the same phase are applied to each of the piezoelectric thin-film layers.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 22 , wherein alternating voltages are applied to the piezoelectric thin-film layers in such a manner that vibrations of opposite phase are induced in adjacent piezoelectric thin-film layers.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-08-19 | 2006-02-18 | 2006-08-20 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-08-19 | 2010-02-18 | 2010-08-20 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-08-19 | 2014-02-18 | 2014-08-20 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |