Honeywell International Inc.

Other

Alistair David Bradley

Lamar Floyd Ricks

Richard A Wade

Richard Alan Davis

Ian Bentley

Todd Eckhardt

Carl Stewart

Ryan Jones

Gilberto Morales

Jim Cook

Josh M Fribley

Sudheer Beligere Sreeramu

Sathish Vadlamudi

Manjesh Kumar B

James D Cook

James Z T Liu

Gautham Ramamurthy

Palani Thanigachalam

Ronald W Myers

Stephen R Shiffer

Jim Machir

Karen Marie Newstrom-Peitso

Wayne A Lamb

Paul Rozgo

Sunil Job

James F Machir

Disclosed are pressure sensors including a die and an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) mounted on a top surface of a substrate. The pressure sensor can define an inner volume and a bottom opening configured to abut the substrate. The die and ASIC are mounted on the top surface of the substrate within the inner volume. The substrate defines a first aperture therethrough and the die defines a second aperture therethrough in a direction along an axis perpendicular to the substrate, the first aperture and the second aperture being aligned. Metallic barrier(s) disposed on a bottom surface of the substrate, circumferentially about the first aperture, can be at least partially coated with solder mask to reduce or prevent flow of unwanted materials past the metallic barriers and through the first aperture. The substrate can include electrical connection pads on the bottom surface configured to be in communication with a daughter board.

Leadless pressure sensors

A gas sensor for sensing a gas of interest includes a ceramic carrier and a porous ceramic lid that is secured to the ceramic carrier. The porous ceramic lid and the ceramic carrier together define a sensor cavity. A gas sensor is situated in the sensor cavity and is spaced from the porous ceramic lid. The porous ceramic lid is configured to allow the gas of interest to move through at least part of the porous ceramic lid and into the sensor cavity to be sensed by the gas sensor. In some cases, the gas sensor is a MEMS gas sensor.

High temperature gas sensor

A pressure sensor can include a housing having a sense side cavity formed on a first side of the housing; a sense side diaphragm attached to the first side and over the sense side cavity, a sense die assembly placed in the cavity and attached to the housing; a reference side cavity formed in the housing, a reference side diaphragm attached to a second side of the housing and over the reference side cavity, and pin(s) electrically connected to the sense die assembly and extending outside the housing from the second side. The cavities are filled with oil. Manufacturing the pressure sensor can include mounting the sense die assembly onto the housing, attaching the sense side diaphragm to the first side of the housing, filling the cavities with oil, and attaching the reference side diaphragm on the second side of the housing and over the reference side cavity.

Oil filled gage reference side protection

A force sensor may comprise a sensing die comprising a cap and a support. Generally, a first surface of the support may comprise a buried cavity and one or more channels. The one or more channels may extend from the buried cavity towards the outer edges of the support and may ensure the force sensor is not sensitive to ambient or atmospheric pressure variation. The cap may be bonded to the first surface of the support, thereby forming a sensing diaphragm located above the buried cavity. Additionally, the force sensor may comprise an actuation element to sense a change in force from an external media. The actuation element may transmit the force to the sensing diaphragm causing it to deflect into the buried cavity. The one or more sense elements on the sensing diaphragm may provide an indication of the change in force based on the amount of deflection.

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) force die with buried cavity vented to the edges

Disclosed herein are force sensors which include a sense die assembly and methods for manufacturing the sense die assembly and the force sensor. The disclosed sense die assembly, force sensor, and methods utilize wafer-level retention to hold an actuation element in a cavity of the sense die.

Low cost small force sensor

The present disclosure relates to sensors including pressure sensors. In some cases, the pressure sensor may include a membrane or diaphragm, multiple sense elements connected to one another in a bridge configuration and positioned on the membrane, and an amplifier coupled to an output of the bridge configuration and having an output, where the diaphragm, sense elements and amplifier may be formed on a singled substrate or formed integrally therewith, or both. In one example, the pressure sensor may sense a particular range of pressures applied to the sensor, and/or may include an amplifier that has a selectable gain for amplifying an output of the bridge.

Pressure sensor

The present disclosure relates to sensors including pressure sensors, humidity sensors, flow sensors, etc. In some illustrative cases, a sensor assembly may include a pressure port connected to a sensor unit, an electrical connector connected to the sensor unit and an outer housing encompassing at least portions of the pressure port, sensor unit and electrical connector. In one example, the sensor unit may include a carrier carrying a sense element, where the carrier may extend into a recess of the pressure port and may be secured to the pressure port at an internal side thereof through the use of an adhesive layer.

Joint between a pressure sensor and a pressure port of a sensor assembly

Methods and devices for adhesively bonding a sensor die to a substrate are described. In some cases, a sensor assembly may include a pressure sensor die mounted to a substrate with an adhesive. The pressure sensor die may be fabricated to include a back-side having one or more adhesion features (e.g. recesses or indentations), which increase the surface area of the pressure sensor die that is in contact with the adhesive, to thereby increase the adhesion force therebetween. In some cases, the one or more adhesion features may define a non-planar interface between the pressure sensor die and the adhesive which, in some instances, may reduce the formation and/or propagation of cracks in the adhesive, which also may help increase the adhesion force therebetween.

Increased sensor die adhesion

A force sensor apparatus and method of forming the same. The apparatus includes a force sense element that can be attached to a substrate. An actuator disposed in a hole formed within the cap is operably coupled to the force sense element for transferring force to the sense element in response to receiving a force from an external source. The force sense element is configured to sense the external force and generate an output signal representing the force. Preferably, one or more bond pads, associated with the force sense element and the substrate, can be electrically connected via wire bonding. A cover associated with an integrated flexible membrane can be mounted on the substrate in order to protect internal components associated with the force sensor apparatus from an external environment.

Force sensor apparatus

A pressure detection mechanism having a pressure sense die which may be attached directly to a surface of an alumina-based substrate with an adhesive having an optimum thickness. The adhesive may be stress compliant and may be one or more of silicone, silicone-epoxy, epoxy or any other suitable adhesive material. A compensation and interface application specific integrated circuit may be attached to the surface of the package substrate. The pressure sense die may be electrically connected to the integrated circuit with bond wires. The integrated circuit may be electrically connected to trace conductors on the package substrate with bond wires, and trace conductors may be connected to stress compliant metal conductors or leads for external connection to a mounting surface such as a printed circuit board. Hard plastic, or like material, symmetric covers, with one or more pressure ports or vents, may be attached to both sides of the substrate.

Sensor package assembly having an unconstrained sense die

A flow-through pressure sensor apparatus that reduces the dead space of a flow tube utilized to provide fluid communication between a pressure sense die and a fluid and with an absolute minimum trapped volume. A cover (e.g., plastic) with two-molded ports can be added to one side of the pressure sense die utilizing molded-in solder pins to improve ruggedness and rigidity. A temperature and a humidity sensor can also be mounted to a substrate (e.g., ceramic) in the flow path and can be connected to a programmable compensation integrated circuit on the opposite side utilizing a clip end of mounting pins or by vias through the substrate outside a pressurized area.

Flow-through pressure sensor apparatus

A method of packaging for chip-on-board pressure sensor that includes a buffer layer with a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) intermediate between the transducer and a main chip-on-board substrate by which thermally induced package stresses can be greatly reduced or eliminated. Additionally, the use of a buffer layer with higher stiffness (elastic modulus) than the chip-on-board substrate further prevents or reduces flexural (bending) stresses from being transferred to the transducer. Such a buffer layer also enables a wider choice of materials for bonding and stable performance of pressure sensor in harsh media and environmental conditions. The pressure transducer can be adhesively bonded to a ceramic layer, which in turn can be adhesively bonded to an epoxy laminate chip-on-board substrate.

Packaging for chip-on-board pressure sensor

Method and system for a wet/wet differential pressure sensor based on microelectronic packaging process. A top cap with a hole can be attached to a topside of a MEMS-configured pressure sense die with a pressure sensing diaphragm in order to allow sensed media to come in contact with the topside of the pressure sensing diaphragm. An optional constraint with a hole for stress relief can be attached to a backside of the pressure sense die. Adhesive and/or elastomeric seals and/or solder can be utilized to seal the pressure sense die allowing sensed media to come in contact with both sides of the pressure sensing diaphragm without coming into contact with wirebonds and other metallized surfaces. The MEMS-configured pressure sense die can also be bonded to a substrate with standard die attach materials. Such microelectronic packaging processes yield a high performance and cost effective solution thereby providing wet-wet pressure sensing capability.

Wet/wet differential pressure sensor based on microelectronic packaging process

The sensor geometry for improved package stress isolation is disclosed. A counterbore on the backing plate improves stress isolation properties of the sensor. The counterbore thins the wall of the backing plate maintaining the contact area with the package. The depth and diameter of the counterbore can be adjusted to find geometry for allowing the backing plate to absorb more package stresses. Thinning the wall of the backing plate make it less rigid and allows the backing plate to absorb more of the stresses produced at the interface with the package. The counterbore also keeps a large surface area at the bottom of the backing plate creating a strong bond with the package.

Growing community of inventors

Dublin, OH, United States of America

Alistair David Bradley