Wafer Level Stepped Sensor Holder for Light Leak Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Wafer level camera modules face challenges in reducing assembly steps and size, leading to increased production costs and light leaks due to the need for additional components and complex assembly processes.
Innovation Solution
A wafer level camera module design featuring a lens stack with a spacer having a thinned wall that defines a step and a recess to accept the image sensor, eliminating the need for a barrel and reducing light leaks by encapsulating the image sensor within the spacer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a barrel is used to enclose the lens stack and image sensor, then structural protection is improved, but device complexity and assembly steps increase
Solution Approach 1:
The spacer is merged with the barrel function, combining structural protection and positioning into a single component. The spacer's lateral sidewalls provide the enclosing structure that previously required a separate barrel, thereby reducing assembly steps while maintaining protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacer serves multiple functions: it positions the image sensor, provides structural support, and acts as the enclosing barrel structure. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate components, reducing overall device complexity.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If additional components are added to reduce light leaks, then optical performance is improved, but device complexity and production costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The light-blocking function is merged into the spacer structure itself. The spacer's lateral sidewalls and step structure provide the light leakage prevention that previously required additional separate components, thereby reducing the total number of parts while maintaining optical performance.
3Manufacturing precision
If more assembly steps are used to ensure proper alignment, then manufacturing precision is improved, but productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The image sensor is pre-positioned within the recess of the spacer during the spacer formation process. This preliminary positioning action ensures proper alignment is built into the structure itself, eliminating the need for additional alignment steps during final assembly and thereby improving productivity.
4Volume of moving object
If the camera module size is reduced, then compactness is improved, but assembly complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple functions are merged into the spacer component, including positioning, support, and light-blocking functions. This consolidation reduces the number of separate parts and simplifies the assembly process, enabling compact module design without increasing assembly complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus includes an image sensor that is bonded to a spacer. The spacer has a thinned wall that defines a step and a recess in an interior wall at a first end of the spacer. The image sensor is bonded to the step within the recess of the spacer such that the image sensor is accepted completely within the recess of the spacer. A glass wafer is mounted on a second end of the spacer. A lens is mounted on the glass wafer such that light is to be directed through the lens to the image sensor.