Texas Instruments Corporation

National Semiconductor Corporation

Dok Won Lee

William David French

Erika Lynn Mazotti

Keith Ryan Green

Ricky A Jackson

Ann Gabrys

Peter J Hopper

Anuraag Mohan

Peter B Johnson

Mona M Eissa

Sudtida Lavangkul

Jo Bito

Thomas Dyer Bonifield

Neil Gibson

Fuchao Wang

Andrei Papou

Wai Lee

Byron J R Shulver

Aditi Dutt Chaudhuri

Baher S Haroun

Benjamin Stassen Cook

Mark R Visokay

Srinath Mathur Ramaswamy

Peter Smeys

Lei Ding

Roozbeh Parsa

Rafael Jose Lizares Guevara

Yi Yan

Iouri N Mirgorodski

Neal T Murphy

Kenji Otake

Byron Jon Roderick Shulver

Steven Loveless

Yousong Zhang

Kashyap Mohan

Christopher Eric Brannon

Xinkun Huang

Christopher Michael Ledbetter

Bret Alan Dahl

Roy Deidrick Solomon

Hank Ming Sung

Byron Shulver

Ann Margaret Gabrys

A described example includes: a heat slug coupled to a package substrate, the heat slug configured to conduct a current between terminals of the package substrate; a first magnetic shield mounted to a top surface of the package substrate, the first magnetic shield including a die mount area; a semiconductor die flip chip mounted to the die mount area; a second magnetic shield mounted to the package substrate, the second magnetic shield having a cantilever portion extending over a portion of the semiconductor die including a Hall element; electrical connections of wire bonds or ribbon bonds between bond pads of the semiconductor die and leads on the package substrate; and mold compound covering the electrical connections, the semiconductor die, the first magnetic shield, and the second magnetic shield, while a portion of the heat slug is exposed forming a thermal pad for a semiconductor device package.

Semiconductor device package with internal magnetic shield for hall sensor

Apparatus, and their methods of manufacture, including an integrated circuit device having metallization layers for interconnecting underlying electronic devices. Contacts contact conductors of an uppermost one of the metallization layers. A planarized first dielectric layer covers the contacts and the uppermost one of the metallization layers. An anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) stack is on the first dielectric layer between vertically aligned portions of an etch stop layer formed on the first dielectric layer and a second dielectric layer formed on the etch stop layer. Vias extend through the first dielectric layer to electrically connect the AMR stack and the contacts. A chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) stop layer is on the AMR stack. A third dielectric layer is on the CMP stop layer. A passivation layer contacts the second dielectric layer portions, the third dielectric layer, and each opposing end of the AMR stack and the CMP stop layer.

Thin film anisotropic magnetoresistor device and formation

In one example, circuitry is formed in a semiconductor die. A magnetic concentrator is formed on a surface of the semiconductor die and over the circuitry. An isolation spacer is placed on a lead frame. The semiconductor die is placed on the isolation spacer, and the magnetic concentrator is aligned to overlap the lead frame. Electrical interconnects are formed between the semiconductor die and the lead frame.

Integrated current sensor with magnetic flux concentrators

A wafer probe test system having a probe card with a probe head, a rotary magnet, a magnetic sensor positioned to sense the magnetic field of the rotary magnet and a controller coupled to the probe card, where the probe head has probe needles to engage features of test sites of a wafer in a wafer plane of orthogonal first and second directions, and the rotary magnet is rotatable around an axis of a third direction to provide a magnetic field to the wafer, in which the controller includes a model of magnetic flux density in the first, second and third directions at the respective test sites of the wafer as a function of a rotational angle of the rotary magnet, a probe needle height along the third direction and a measured magnetic flux density of the magnetic sensor.

Multi-site concurrent wafer probe magnetic circuit testing

A current-sensing system includes a conductor for carrying a first electrical current generating a first magnetic field. A device, spaced from the conductor by a clearance, includes a semiconductor integrated circuit die in a package. The semiconductor integrated circuit die includes at least one elongated bar of a first ferromagnetic material magnetized by the first magnetic field; a sensor comprising a first coil wrapped around the at least one elongated bar to sense the bar's magnetization; and an electronic driver creating a second electrical current flowing through a second coil wrapped around the at least one elongated bar generating a second magnetic field to compensate the at least one bar's magnetization. The package has a first outer surface free of device terminals. A discrete plate of a second ferromagnetic material is positioned in the clearance and is conformal with the first outer surface of the package.

Semiconductor integrated fluxgate device shielded by discrete magnetic plate

In a described example, a circuit includes a sensor circuit including multiple magnetic field sensors having respective sensor outputs. The magnetic field sensors are configured to provide magnetic field sensor signals at the respective sensor outputs representative of a measure of current flow through a conductive structure. A combiner interface has combiner inputs and a combiner output. The combiner inputs are coupled to the respective sensor outputs. The combiner interface is configured to provide an aggregate sensor measurement at the combiner output responsive to the magnetic field sensor signals, in which the aggregate sensor measurement is decoupled from magnetic fields generated responsive to the current flow through the conductive structure.

Magnetic current sensing

A described example includes: a semiconductor die including a Hall sensor arranged in a first plane that is parallel to a device side surface of the semiconductor die; a passivated magnetic concentrator including a magnetic alloy layer formed over the device side surface of the semiconductor die, the upper surface of the magnetic alloy layer covered by a layer of polymer material; a backside surface of the semiconductor die opposite the device side surface mounted to a die side surface of a die pad on a package substrate, the semiconductor die having bond pads on the device side surface spaced from the magnetic concentrator; electrical connections coupling the bond pads of the semiconductor die to leads of the package substrate; and mold compound covering the magnetic concentrator, the semiconductor die, the electrical connections, a portion of the leads, and the die side surface of the die pad.

Semiconductor device with passivated magnetic concentrator

A packaged current sensor includes a lead frame, an integrated circuit, an isolation spacer, a first magnetic concentrator, and a second magnetic concentrator. The lead frame includes a conductor. The isolation spacer is between the lead frame and the integrated circuit. The first magnetic concentrator is aligned with the conductor. The second magnetic concentrator is aligned with the conductor.

An inductor conductor design which minimizes the impact of skin effect in the conductors at high frequencies in integrated circuits and the method of manufacture thereof is described herein.

Conductor design for integrated magnetic devices

A structure includes a substrate which includes a surface. The structure also includes a horizontal-type Hall sensor positioned within the substrate and below the surface of the substrate. The structure further includes a patterned magnetic concentrator positioned above the surface of the substrate, and a protective overcoat layer positioned above the magnetic concentrator.

Magnetic flux concentrator for in-plane direction magnetic field concentration

Various examples provide an electronic device that includes first and second resistor segments. Each of the resistor segments has a respective doped resistive region formed in a semiconductor substrate. The resistor segments are connected between first and second terminals. The first resistor segment is configured to conduct a current in a first direction, and the second resistor segment is configured to conduct the current in a second different direction. The directions may be orthogonal crystallographic directions of the semiconductor substrate.

Trimmable silicon-based thermistor with reduced stress dependence

An integrated AMR sensor includes a half bridge with two resistors, a Wheatstone bridge with four resistors, or a first Wheatstone bridge with four resistors in an orthogonal configuration, and a second Wheatstone bridge with four resistors in an orthogonal configuration, oriented at 45 degrees with respect to the first Wheatstone bridge. Each resistor includes first magnetoresistive segments with current flow directions oriented at a first tilt angle with respect to a reference direction of the resistor, and second magnetoresistive segments with current flow directions oriented at a second tilt angle with respect to the reference direction. The tilt angles are selected to advantageously cancel angular errors due to shape anisotropies of the magnetoresistive segments. In another implementation, the disclosed system/method include a method for identifying tilt angles which cancel angular errors due to shape anisotropies of the magnetoresistive segments.

Tilted segmented anisotropic magneto-resistive angular sensor

A strain gauge sensor includes a substrate, at least one resistor comprising a magnetoresistive material on the substrate. The magnetoresistive material exhibits a magnetostriction coefficient &#x3bb; that is greater than or equal to () |2| parts per million (ppm) and an anisotropic magnetoresistance effect with an anisotropic magnetoresistance of greater than or equal to () 2% &#x394; R/R. The strain gauge sensor consists of a single layer of the magnetoresistive material. At least a first contact to the resistor provides a sensor input and a second contact to the resistor provides a sensor output.

Magnetostrictive strain gauge sensor

An integrated circuit includes a fluxgate magnetometer. The magnetic core of the fluxgate magnetometer is encapsulated with a layer of encapsulant of a nonmagnetic metal or a nonmagnetic alloy. The layer of encapsulate provides stress relaxation between the magnetic core material and the surrounding dielectric. A method for forming an integrated circuit has the magnetic core of a fluxgate magnetometer encapsulated with a layer of a nonmagnetic metal or nonmagnetic alloy to eliminate delamination and to substantially reduce cracking of the dielectric that surrounds the magnetic core.

High performance fluxgate device

Growing community of inventors

Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Dok Won Lee