Patents Examined by Hoa B. Trinh
  • Patent number: 7964448
    Abstract: This application relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising: providing a metal carrier; placing the metal carrier into a mold for forming a molded structure holding the metal carrier; segmenting the metal carrier into at least two disconnected metal carrier segments; and attaching a semiconductor chip to the molded structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2011
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Klaus Elian, Jochen Dangelmaier
  • Patent number: 7956471
    Abstract: A mold (10) including a first mold part (12) and a second mold part (14) define a mold cavity (16) therebetween. A gate (18) is formed in at least one of the first and second mold parts (12) and (14) such that the gate (18) communicates with the mold cavity (16). A vent (20) having a constricted portion (22) is arranged to communicate with the mold cavity (16). A substrate (28) including a base substrate (30) and an electrically conductive pattern (32) and (34) formed on the base substrate (30) may be received in the mold (10). A solder resist layer (36) is formed on the base substrate (30) and a portion of the electrically conductive pattern (32). A plurality of grooves (38) and (40) is formed in a staggered arrangement around a periphery of a molding area (42) on the substrate (28).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventors: Poh Leng Eu, Boon Yew Low, Wai Keong Wong
  • Patent number: 7956454
    Abstract: A wiring board includes a substrate core and a ceramic chip to be embedded therein. The substrate core has a housing opening portion opening at a core main surface. The ceramic chip is accommodated in the housing opening portion so that the core main surface and a chip first main surface face the same way. The ceramic chip includes a plurality of second terminal electrodes comprised of a metallized layer and formed on the chip second main surface so as to protrude therefrom. A projecting portion, disposed on the second main surface side so as to surround a plurality of the second terminal electrodes, is formed on the chip second main surface so as to protrude therefrom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Yamamoto, Toshitake Seki, Shinji Yuri, Masaki Muramatsu, Motohiko Sato, Akifumi Tosa
  • Patent number: 7951646
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for improving the laminate performance of the solder balls in a BGA package. Specifically, the ball pads on the substrate are configured to increase the shear force necessary to cause delamination of the solder balls. Conductive traces extending planarly from the pads and arranged in specified configurations will increase the shear strength of the pad.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Assignee: Round Rock Research, LLC
    Inventors: Brad D. Rumsey, Patrick W. Tandy, Willam J. Reeder, Stephen F. Moxham, Steven G. Thummel, Dana A. Stoddard, Joseph C. Young
  • Patent number: 7948530
    Abstract: An imaging device includes a read circuit having a bias circuit for biasing the signal currents output from a sensor array to correct variations of the sensor array. The bias current is determined so that the number of pixel data output from the read circuit which are below or above the threshold is equal to a specified number setting for the number of pixel data. A fixed pattern noise (FPN) correction circuit determines the full scale of the FPN correction current based on the bias current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2011
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Kuniyuki Okuyama
  • Patent number: 7935571
    Abstract: Through substrate vias for back-side electrical and thermal interconnections on very thin semiconductor wafers without loss of wafer mechanical strength during manufacturing are provided by: forming (101) desired device regions (21) with contacts (22) on the front surface (19) of an initially relatively thick wafer (18?); etching (104) via cavities (29) partly through the wafer (18?) in the desired locations; filling (105) the via cavities (29) with a conductive material (32) coupled to some device region contacts (22); mounting (106) the wafer (18?) with its front side (35) facing a support structure (40); thinning (107) the wafer (18?) from the back side (181) to expose internal ends (3210, 3220, 3230, 3240, etc.) of the conductive material filled vias (321, 322, 323, 324, etc.); applying (108) any desired back-side interconnect region (44) coupled to the exposed ends (3210, 3220, 3230, 3240, etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2011
    Assignee: Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventors: Chandrasekaram Ramiah, Douglas G. Mitchell, Michael F. Petras, Paul W. Sanders
  • Patent number: 7928574
    Abstract: A ball grid array device with an insulating substrate (110) having metal traces (106, for example copper, about 18 ?m thick) with sidewalls (108) at right angles to the trace top. The traces are grouped in a first (120) and a second set (121). The first set traces have the top surface covered by a thin noble metal (for example a nickel layer (130) about 0.1 ?m thick and an outermost gold layer (131) about 0.5 ?m thick), while the sidewalls are un-covered by the noble metal. About 1.5 ?m are thus gained for the trace spacing; oxidation of the trace sidewalls is enabled. The second set traces have the top surface un-covered by the noble metal; the traces are covered by an insulating soldermask. A semiconductor chip (101) with terminals (102) is attached to the substrate with the terminals connected to the noble metal of the first set traces, either by bonding wires (for example gold) or by metal studs (for example gold).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2011
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: Donald C Abbott
  • Patent number: 7923797
    Abstract: A method of driving a solid-state image sensing device comprises plural photoelectric conversion devices arranged in rows and columns perpendicular to the rows, VCCDs through which charges generated by the photoelectric conversion devices are transferred in the column direction, and an HCCD through which the charges transferred from the VCCDs are transferred in the row direction. The photoelectric conversion devices include plural photoelectric conversion device rows including the photoelectric conversion devices arranged in the rows include first photoelectric conversion device rows each of which different kinds of photoelectric conversion devices are mixed and second photoelectric conversion device rows each of which has one kind of photoelectric conversion devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2011
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventor: Mikio Watanabe
  • Patent number: 7923833
    Abstract: A semiconductor module 10 includes a ceramic substrate having a front surface on which a semiconductor element 12 is mounted and a rear surface on the opposite side of the front surface, a front metal plate 15 joined to the front surface, a rear metal plate 16 joined to the rear surface, and a heat sink 13 joined to the rear metal plate 16. The rear metal plate 16 includes a joint surface 16b that faces the heat sink 13. The joint surface 16b includes a joint area and a non-joint area. The non-joint area includes recesses 18 which extend in the thickness direction of the rear metal plate 16. The joint area of the rear metal plate 16 is in a range from 65% to 85% of the total area of the joint surface 16b on the rear metal plate 16. As a result, excellent heat dissipating performance can be achieved while occurrence of distortion and cracking due to thermal stress is prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2011
    Assignees: Showa Denko K.K., Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Jidoshokki
    Inventors: Yuichi Furukawa, Shinobu Yamauchi, Nobuhiro Wakabayashi, Shintaro Nakagawa, Keiji Toh, Eiji Kono, Kota Otoshi, Katsufumi Tanaka
  • Patent number: 7919847
    Abstract: A semiconductor wafer includes a plurality of chip areas, a scribe line area, a bonding pad, a probing pad, and a pad connection wiring. The plurality of chip areas are configured to be arranged in a matrix form. The scribe line area is configured to separate the plurality of chip areas from each other. The bonding pad is configured to be connected with an external terminal. The probing pad is configured to be contacted with a probe wire. The pad connection wiring is configured to electrically connect the bonding pad to the probing pad. The bonding pad and the probing pad are located at a predetermined distance from each other in each of the plurality of chip areas. The pad connection wiring has a portion located in the scribe line area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2011
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Atsushi Ebara
  • Patent number: 7919840
    Abstract: The present invention provides one single chip solution for a non-isolated DC-DC regulator. The advantage is high reliability, lower cost and smaller space on the motherboard. This integrated solution opens the door for a distributed architecture with few millimeter high 1?×1? regulator. Such regulators could be populated as QFP ICs are on all system boards. The present invention is based on a single VRM chip, PBGA multilayer board with processor signal pads and power points. The multilayer board periphery has SMD components such as ceramic capacitors, ICs, MOSFETs and a rectangular metal heat sink along with ferrite cores which sandwich the multilayer board and SMDs to form inductors for the multiphase solution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Randhir S. Malik
  • Patent number: 7919843
    Abstract: There is provided a semiconductor device 10 including a solder resist 16 for protecting a wiring pattern 14 electrically connected to a semiconductor chip 11 via an internal connection terminal 12, characterized in that the solder resist 16 is arranged to cover the upper surface of the portion of the wiring pattern 14 not corresponding to the arrangement region of the external connection terminal 17 and the side surface 14B of the wiring pattern 14 and that the area of the solder resist 16 assumed when the upper surface 13A of an insulation layer 13 is viewed from above is substantially the same as that of the wiring pattern 14 assumed when the upper surface 13A of the insulation layer 13 is viewed from above.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2011
    Assignee: Shinko Electric Industries Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Takaharu Yamano
  • Patent number: 7911058
    Abstract: The present invention has an object to provide a semiconductor chip of high reliability with less risk of breakage. Specifically, the present invention provides a semiconductor chip having a semiconductor silicon substrate including a semiconductor device layer and a porous silicon domain layer, the semiconductor device layer being provided in a main surface region on one surface of the semiconductor silicon substrate, the porous silicon domain layer being provided in a main surface region on a back surface which is the other surface of the semiconductor silicon substrate, and the porous silicon domain layer having porous silicon domains dispersed like islands in the back surface of the semiconductor silicon substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2011
    Assignee: Elpida Memory Inc.
    Inventors: Kiyonori Oyu, Shigeru Aoki
  • Patent number: 7906859
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a molding resin layer and a semiconductor element encapsulated with the molding resin layer. The molding resin layer has an opening. A surface of the semiconductor element is partially exposed outside the molding resin layer through the opening. A groove is located in the surface of the semiconductor element around the opening of the molding resin layer. The groove is filled with the molding resin layer to produce anchor effect that enhances adhesive force of the molding resin layer to the surface of the semiconductor element around the opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tetsuo Yoshioka, Kenji Fukumura, Takahiko Yoshida
  • Patent number: 7906377
    Abstract: A fabrication method of a circuit board is provided. A substrate, a top pad, a base pad electrically connecting the top pad, and a top and a base solder resist layers are provided. The top and the base pads are disposed on two opposite surfaces of the substrate, respectively. The top solder resist layer having a first opening partially exposing the top pad and the base solder resist layer having a second opening partially exposing the base pad are disposed on the two surfaces, respectively. A conductive layer covering the base solder resist layer and the base pad is formed. A plating resist layer having a third opening is formed on the conductive layer. A current is applied to the conductive layer through the third opening for electroplating a pre-bump on the top pad. The plating resist layer and the conductive layer are then removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: VIA Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Wen-Yuan Chang, Wei-Cheng Chen, Yeh-Chi Hsu
  • Patent number: 7906840
    Abstract: A semiconductor integrated circuit package, a printed circuit board, a semiconductor apparatus, and a power supply wiring structure that allow attainment of stable power source and ground wiring without causing resonance even in a high-frequency bandwidth are provided. In an interior portion of the package, a power source wiring and a ground wiring constitute a pair wiring structure in which the power source wiring and the ground wiring are juxtaposed at a predetermined interval so as to establish electromagnetic coupling therebetween. A plurality of pair wiring structures are combined in such a manner that, when viewed in a section perpendicular to a wiring extending direction, the pair wiring assembly assumes a staggered (checkered) configuration. It is preferable that, each of the silicon chip and the printed circuit board, like the package, has pair wiring structures disposed inside.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignees: Kyocera Corporation, Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd., Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd., Fujitsu Microelectronics Limited, Renesas Technology Corp., Ibiden Co., Ltd., Kanji Otsuka, Yutaka Akiyama
    Inventors: Kanji Otsuka, Yutaka Akiyama
  • Patent number: 7893548
    Abstract: Disclosed in this specification is a system-in-a-package substrate that includes an interconnect substrate for permitting finely pitched connections to be made to an integrated circuit. The interconnect substrate includes a central region on its upper surface for receiving the integrated circuit. The interconnect substrate also has interconnections that electrically connect the finely pitched contacts on the upper surface to larger pitched contacts on the lower surface. The larger pitched contacts connect to a conductive trace frame. The resulting assembly is encased in a molding compound along with a plurality of other devices which are configured to interact with one other through the conductive trace.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2011
    Assignee: Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Maria Clemens Y. Quinones, Ruben P. Madrid
  • Patent number: 7888201
    Abstract: A static memory element includes a first inverter having an input coupled to a left bit node and an output coupled to a right bit node. A second inverter has an input coupled to the right bit node and an output coupled to the left right bit node. A first fully depleted semiconductor-on-insulator transistor has a drain coupled to the left bit node, and a second fully depleted semiconductor-on-insulator transistor has a drain coupled to the right bit node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2011
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yee-Chia Yeo, Fu-Liang Yang, Chenming Hu
  • Patent number: 7888803
    Abstract: A printed circuit board including a conductor portion, an insulating layer formed over the conductor portion, a thin-film capacitor formed over the insulating layer and including a first electrode, a second electrode and a high-dielectric layer interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, and a via-hole conductor structure formed through the second electrode and insulating layer and electrically connecting the second electrode and the conductor portion. The via-hole conductor structure has a first portion in the second electrode and a second portion in the insulating layer. The first portion of the via-hole conductor structure has a truncated-cone shape tapering toward the conductor portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2011
    Assignee: Ibiden Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takashi Kariya, Hironori Tanaka
  • Patent number: 7888691
    Abstract: A semiconductor light emitting device comprises a light emitting layer disposed between an n-type region and a p-type region. The light emitting layer is adapted to emit first light having a first peak wavelength. A first wavelength converting material is adapted to absorb the first light and emit second light having a second peak wavelength. A second wavelength converting material is adapted to absorb either the first light or the second light and emit third light having a third peak wavelength. A filter is adapted to reflect fourth light having a fourth peak wavelength. The fourth light is either a portion of the second light or a portion of the third light. The filter is configured to transmit light having a peak wavelength longer or shorter than the fourth peak wavelength. The filter is disposed over the light emitting device in the path of at least a portion of the first, second, and third light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2011
    Assignees: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., Philips Lumileds Lighting Company, LLC
    Inventor: Michael R. Krames