Fingerprint Sensor Substrate Recesses for Laser Cutting
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge is to integrate biometric authentication components, such as fingerprint or iris recognition sensors, into portable electronic devices while minimizing space, weight, and manufacturing costs, while ensuring compatibility with the device's appearance and ease of assembly.
Innovation Solution
An electronic component design featuring a substrate with a sensor element, a flexible printed circuit board, and recesses on the substrate's edge, allowing for laser cutting without damaging the circuit board and facilitating mass production by molding multiple components together for precise cutting and assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If additional electronic components (e.g., sensor modules) are mounted for biometric authentication, then security function is improved, but mounting space becomes insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The fingerprint sensor module is integrated directly into the button structure, merging two functional components (sensor and button) into a single unified component. This eliminates the need for separate mounting spaces for both the sensor and button, thereby improving security functionality without increasing the overall device footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The button component serves dual purposes: it acts as both a mechanical input device and a mounting substrate for the fingerprint sensor. This multi-functional design allows the same structural element to fulfill multiple roles, optimizing space utilization while enabling biometric authentication capability.
2Reliability
If additional electronic components are mounted, then biometric authentication capability is improved, but device size and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The fingerprint sensor and button are combined into a single integrated module, eliminating redundant structural elements and reducing overall component count. This integration approach minimizes the additional weight that would result from separate mounting of sensor and button components.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor module utilizes a thin-film flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) structure, which provides necessary electrical connectivity while minimizing thickness and weight. This allows biometric authentication functionality to be added without significantly increasing device weight.
3Manufacturing precision
If substrate is cut using laser to meet specifications, then manufacturing precision is improved, but flexible printed circuit board may be damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate is designed with pre-defined recesses that segment the cutting path, allowing the laser to cut only in specific regions where no FPCB is present. This segmentation approach enables precise substrate shaping while protecting the FPCB from laser damage by excluding it from the cutting zone.
Solution Approach 2:
The recess structure acts as an intermediary zone that separates the laser cutting path from the FPCB location. By creating this intermediate space, the design allows laser processing to achieve precise substrate dimensions without the laser beam directly exposing or damaging the flexible circuit board.
4Productivity
If multiple components are molded together for mass production, then productivity is improved, but assembly complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The button and sensor module are molded together as a single integrated component, reducing the total number of parts that need to be assembled. This merging approach simplifies the assembly process by eliminating separate assembly steps for mounting the sensor onto the button, thereby improving productivity without increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated button-sensor component serves multiple functions (mechanical input, sensor mounting, structural support) within a single molded part. This multi-functionality reduces the number of separate components and assembly operations required, improving mass production efficiency while maintaining functional complexity only where necessary.
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 design enables efficient assembly, reduces manufacturing costs, and prevents surface imperfections, ensuring a seamless integration of biometric sensors within compact electronic devices without compromising performance or aesthetics.
Implementation Method 1
the substrate can be partially cut using a laser to meet the specifications of the electronic device. Through the cutting using the laser, the substrate can be cut smoothly (or flatly) in the state in which no imperfections (e.g., a burr) are formed
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic component (and/or an electronic device comprising the same) according to various embodiments of the present invention comprises: a substrate having a sensing element mounted on one surface thereof; a flexible printed circuit board that is coupled to the other surface of the substrate so as to face the same and extends to a side of the substrate along a first direction; and at least one recess formed on the edge of the other surface of the substrate, wherein the recess is located in an area, on the other surface of the substrate, which faces at least the flexible printed circuit board, and may extend along a second direction intersecting with the first direction. The electronic component and/or the electronic device comprising the same as described above may be diversified according to embodiments.