Edge-Mounted Sensor Package for Orthogonal Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hermetically-sealed enclosures for micromechanical devices like gyroscopes and accelerometers are costly and can affect accuracy due to spatial orientation mounting tolerances, especially when multiple sensors are orthogonally mounted.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a sensor device package created in a silicon mechanical layer bonded to glass wafers, with vias etched to expose areas for metallic traces, allowing side mounting on a circuit board and hermetic sealing between glass layers, enabling accurate orthogonal sensor axis alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional hermetically-sealed enclosures are used for mounting micromechanical devices, then hermetic sealing is achieved, but cost increases and mounting tolerances affect accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the hermetic sealing function with the mounting structure by integrating the sensor device directly into the circuit board substrate. The encapsulant material provides both hermetic sealing and mechanical mounting in a single integrated structure, eliminating the separate enclosure and reducing cumulative mounting tolerances while maintaining hermetic protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an encapsulant material as an intermediary that provides hermetic sealing between the sensor device and the external environment. This encapsulant is integrated with the circuit board substrate, serving as both a sealant and a mounting medium, thereby achieving hermetic sealing without requiring a separate enclosure that would introduce additional mounting tolerances.
2Reliability
If multiple sensors are mounted in separate hermetically-sealed enclosures, then each sensor is protected, but orthogonal alignment accuracy deteriorates due to cumulative mounting tolerances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple sensor devices into a single integrated assembly mounted on the circuit board substrate. By providing a common reference plane on the substrate and using a unified encapsulant structure, all sensors are mounted simultaneously with reduced cumulative tolerances, enabling precise orthogonal alignment while maintaining hermetic protection for each sensor.
Solution Approach 2:
The circuit board substrate serves multiple functions: it provides the mechanical mounting platform, the reference plane for orthogonal alignment, and the hermetic seal through the integrated encapsulant. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for separate enclosures for each sensor, thereby reducing cumulative mounting tolerances while maintaining protection for all sensors.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional enclosures with embedded conductors are used, then electrical connections are provided, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the electrical connection function with the circuit board substrate by using trace patterns formed directly on the substrate. The substrate itself serves as the conductor carrier, eliminating the need for separate embedded conductors in an enclosure. This integration simplifies the overall structure while maintaining electrical connectivity between the sensor device and external circuits.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the electrical connection function from the enclosure structure and relocates it to the circuit board substrate. By forming trace patterns directly on the substrate and using the substrate as the mounting platform, the design eliminates the complex enclosure structure with embedded conductors, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining ease of manufacture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach reduces costs and improves accuracy by allowing hermetic sealing and precise orthogonal alignment of sensors on a circuit board, enhancing the performance of inertial systems.
Implementation Method 1
a sensor device(s) is created in a mechanical layer of silicon that is bonded to a first layer of glass. A second layer of glass is attached to the mechanical layer of silicon
Implementation Method 2
A metallic trace is applied between the exposed area on the mechanical layer of silicon and a portion of the second via
Data Source
AI summary
Sensor packages and methods for making a sensor device package for side mounting on a circuit board. A sensor device(s) in a mechanical layer of silicon is sandwiched between first and second layers of glass to create a wafer. A first via(s) is created in the first or second layers to expose a predefined area of the mechanical layer of silicon. A second via(s) is created in the first or second layers. The least one second via has a depth dimension that is less than a depth dimension of the first via. A metallic trace is applied between the exposed area on the mechanical layer and a portion of the second via. The wafer is sliced such that the second via is separated into two sections, thereby creating a sensor die. The sensor die is then electrically and mechanically bonded to a circuit board at the sliced second via.