Overmolded Optical Insert for Electronic Package Cover
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic packages with integrated optical elements face challenges in efficiently encapsulating light radiation emitters and sensors, as current methods often result in suboptimal light transmission and mechanical stability due to the use of adhesive-based encapsulation covers.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the overmolding of optical inserts within a mold cavity using a compressible material, followed by cutting to create protruding ribs, which allows for improved light transmission and mechanical fixation of the encapsulation cover over the electronic chips, enhancing both optical and structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If adhesive-based encapsulation covers are used to mount optical members on carrier substrates, then the covers can be easily assembled, but the mechanical stability and light transmission are suboptimal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the optical member mounting function with the encapsulation cover structure by integrating the optical member directly into the mold cavity. The cover and optical member become a unified structure where the optical member is held in place by the mold's precise geometry rather than separate adhesives, improving mechanical stability while maintaining manufacturing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite construction by combining the cover substrate material with the optical member material in a single integrated component. This composite approach allows optimization of both mechanical properties (from the cover material) and optical properties (from the optical member material) within a unified structure, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and mechanical stability.
2Ease of manufacture
If adhesive layers are used to fix optical members to covers, then the assembly process is simplified, but light transmission is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the adhesive layer from the optical path by eliminating it entirely. The optical member is mounted directly into the mold cavity using precise mechanical fitting, removing the adhesive interface that would otherwise interfere with light transmission. This maintains assembly simplicity through integrated molding while dramatically improving optical performance.
3Adaptability or versatility
If optical members are mounted after cover assembly, then the manufacturing process is flexible, but the structural integrity is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-positioning the optical member within the mold cavity before the cover material is molded. This ensures the optical member is precisely located and mechanically integrated into the cover structure during the molding process itself, creating a unified component with superior structural integrity while maintaining manufacturing flexibility through mold design variations.
Data Source
AI summary
A cover for an electronic package is manufactured by placing an optical insert, having opposite faces and configured to allow light radiation to pass therethrough, between two opposite faces of a cavity of a mold in a position such that said optical faces of the optical insert make contact with said opposite faces of the cavity of the mold. A coating material is injected into the cavity and around the optical insert. The coating material is set to obtain a substrate that is overmolded around the optical insert so as to produce the cover. An electronic package includes an electronic chip mounted to a support substrate with the cover formed by the overmolded substrate mounted to the support substrate.