Sealed capacitive sensor
A sealed capacitive sensor includes a substrate having a diaphragm forming a first plate of a capacitor; a second fixed plate of the capacitor spaced from the diaphragm and defining a predetermined dielectric gap and a sealing medium connecting together the substrate and fixed plate in an integrated structure and hermetically sealing the gap.
This invention claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/656,238, filed Feb. 25, 2005, incorporated by reference herein.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to a sealed capacitive sensor.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONIn conventional capacitive sensors the fixed plate, typically silicon, is connected to the diaphragm, typically formed in a ceramic substrate, using solder balls. One problem with this is that the solder balls are typically about 150-200 μm in height. This defines at least in part the dimension of the capacitive gap. With such a large height the gap, too, is large and this reduces the sensitivity. Therefore the diaphragm has to deflect more under pressure to obtain the desired sensitivity. To accommodate this the diaphragm must be made thinner to get the desired sensitivity. This makes the diaphragm more susceptible to cracking and fracturing. One solution is to provide holes to receive the solder balls and thus reduce their effective height. But the addition of these holes adds considerable cost and must be done extremely accurately. Even assuming a proper balance between solder ball height and diaphragm thickness can be obtained, the solder balls themselves contribute to inaccuracy as they may fracture, break and are subject to creep from temperature and time.
Another shortcoming is that solder balls do not hermetically seal the gap: contaminants and conditions such as changes in ambient pressure can effect the gap and change the capacitance, independent of any change in the parameter being measured by displacement of the diaphragm. To accommodate this the entire device can be placed in a sealed package but this, too, adds to the cost.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved sealed capacitive sensor.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an improved sealed capacitive sensor which provides a hermetically sealed dielectric gap.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an improved sealed capacitive sensor which is more robust, reliable and accurate, yet lower in cost.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an improved sealed capacitive sensor in which the dielectric gap is not vulnerable to fracture, breakage or creep of solder balls.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an improved sealed capacitive sensor which is less susceptible to contamination.
The invention results from the realization that a simpler, less costly, more accurate, reliable and robust capacitive sensor can be achieved by using a sealing medium such as a frit or glass frit to both connect together and hermetically seal a substrate having a diaphragm forming a first plate of a capacitor and a second fixed plate of a capacitor spaced from the diaphragm and defining a predetermined dielectric gap.
The subject invention, however, in other embodiments, need not achieve all these objectives and the claims hereof should not be limited to structures or methods capable of achieving these objectives.
This invention features a sealed capacitive sensor including a substrate having a diaphragm forming a first plate of a capacitor and a second fixed plate of the capacitor spaced from the diaphragm and defining a predetermined dielectric gap. There is a sealing medium which connects together the substrate and the fixed plate in an integral structure and hermetically seals the gap.
In a preferred embodiment, the substrate may include a ceramic, or it may include silicon. The fixed plate may include silicon. The sealing medium may be a frit; it may be a glass frit. At least one of the first and fixed plates may include a metal layer. At least one of the first and fixed plates may include silicon. Each of the silicon plates may be doped. The fixed plates may bear an active electronic circuit associated with the capacitive sensor. The active electronic circuit may be on a separate chip. There may be an insulation layer between the active electronic circuit and the fixed plate. The fixed plate may include a recess which defines at least a part of the gap dimension. The sealing medium may define at least a part of the gap dimension. The fixed plate may be electrically accessed through a wire bonding lead. The first plate may be electrically accessed through a conductor buried in the substrate traversing the sealing medium. The fixed plate may include a second recess for housing an active electric circuit associated with a capacitive sensor. There may be a cover and a second sealing medium for connecting the cover to the fixed plate and hermetically sealing the second recess. The sealing medium may include a frit; it may be a glass frit. There may be an over mold covering the fixed plate and attached to the substrate.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSOther objects, features and advantages will occur to those skilled in the art from the following description of a preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings, in which:
Aside from the preferred embodiment or embodiments disclosed below, this invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways. Thus, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangements of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. If only one embodiment is described herein, the claims hereof are not to be limited to that embodiment. Moreover, the claims hereof are not to be read restrictively unless there is clear and convincing evidence manifesting a certain exclusion, restriction, or disclaimer.
There is shown in
In addition to diaphragm 14 the first plate of the capacitor includes a metal layer 22 which may be diffused into the ceramic which extends out through or under the frit 20 to trace 28 for connection to circuitry this may be seen as a top view in
Ceramic substrate 12a,
The active circuit need not be fabricated directly on fixed plate silicon die 16,
Capacitive sensor 10f may be formed as a dual recess device,
Although specific features of the invention are shown in some drawings and not in others, this is for convenience only as each feature may be combined with any or all of the other features in accordance with the invention. The words “including”, “comprising”, “having”, and “with” as used herein are to be interpreted broadly and comprehensively and are not limited to any physical interconnection. Moreover, any embodiments disclosed in the subject application are not to be taken as the only possible embodiments.
In addition, any amendment presented during the prosecution of the patent application for this patent is not a disclaimer of any claim element presented in the application as filed: those skilled in the art cannot reasonably be expected to draft a claim that would literally encompass all possible equivalents, many equivalents will be unforeseeable at the time of the amendment and are beyond a fair interpretation of what is to be surrendered (if anything), the rationale underlying the amendment may bear no more than a tangential relation to many equivalents, and/or there are many other reasons the applicant can not be expected to describe certain insubstantial substitutes for any claim element amended.
Other embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art and are within the following claims.
Claims
1. A sealed capacitive sensor comprising:
- a substrate having a diaphragm forming a first plate of a capacitor;
- a second fixed plate of the capacitor spaced from said diaphragm ad defining a dielectric gap; and
- a sealing medium connecting together said substrate and fixed plate in an integral structure and hermetically sealing said gap.
2. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 in which said substrate includes ceramic.
3. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 in which said substrate includes silicon.
4. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 in which said fixed plate includes silicon.
5. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 in which said sealing medium includes a frit.
6. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 5 in which said frit includes a glass frit.
7. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 in which at least one of said first and fixed plates includes a metal layer
8. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 in which at least one of said first and fixed plates includes silicon.
9. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 8 in which each of said silicon plates is doped.
10. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 in which said fixed plate bears an active electronic circuit associated with said capacitive sensor.
11. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 in which said fixed plate bears on a separate chip, an active electronic circuit associated with said capacitive sensor.
12. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 1 in which there is an insulation layer between said active electronic circuit and said fixed plate.
13. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 in which said fixed plate includes a recess which defines at least a part of the gap dimension.
14. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 in which the sealing medium defines at least a part of the gap dimension.
15. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 in which said fixed plate is electrically accessed through a wire bonding lead.
16. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 in which said first plate is electrically accessed through a conductor buried in the substrate traversing said sealing medium.
17. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 in which said fixed plate includes a second recess for housing an active electric circuit associated with said capacitive sensor.
18. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 17 further including a cover and second sealing medium for connecting said cover to said fixed plate and hermetically sealing said second recess.
19. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 18 in which said second sealing medium includes a frit.
20. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 18 in which said second sealing medium includes a glass frit.
21. The sealed capacitive sensor of claim 1 further including an over mold covering said fixed plate and attached to said substrate.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 14, 2006
Publication Date: Aug 31, 2006
Inventors: Peter Meehan (Limerick), William Hunt (Co Limerick), Eamon Hynes (Limerick), John O'Dowd (Co Limerick), Oliver Kierse (Ballina)
Application Number: 11/353,359
International Classification: G01B 7/16 (20060101);