Motorola Corporation

Nxp USA, Inc.

Freescale Semiconductor,inc.

Paige M Holm

Lianjun Liu

George W Rhyne

Benjamin W Gable

Chan-Long Shieh

Stephen Ryan Hooper

Philip H Bowles

Raymond Mervin Roop

Jon J Candelaria

Donald E Ackley

Phil Wright

Michael S Lebby

Hsing-Chung Lee

Curtis D Moyer

Fred V Richard

Thomas J Walczak

Rong-Ting Huang

Michael P Norman

Daniel L Rode

Kevin R Fugate

Song Q Shi

Jamal Ramdani

Charles E Weitzel

Olin L Hartin

Mark Edward Schlarmann

Ruben B Montez

Peter T Jones

Vijay Sarihan

Steven M Smith

Craig A Gaw

Jeffrey H Baker

Joyce K Yamamoto

Kenneth L Davis

William DeWitt McWhorter

Neal J Mellen

Barbara Foley Barenburg

Ngoc V Le

Edward W Carstens

Diana J Convey

Mohammad A Faruque

H Philip Li

Todd D Hoffmann

Rigoberto Lopez, Jr

Dean W Miller

Kwong-Han H Leung

Chris Terwilliger

Rong Ting Huang

Lianjun Lu

Carlos M Acuna

A magnetic field sensor for sensing an external magnetic field along a sensing direction comprises a sensor bridge. The sensor bridge has a first sensor leg that includes a first magnetoresistive sense element and a second sensor leg that includes a second magnetoresistive sense element. The first and second sense elements have respective a first and second pinned layers having corresponding first and second reference magnetizations. The second reference magnetization is oriented in an opposing direction relative to the first reference magnetization. The first and second sense elements have respective first and second sense layers, each having an indeterminate magnetization state. A permanent magnet layer is proximate the magnetoresistive sense elements. In the absence of an external magnetic field, the permanent magnet layer magnetically biases the indeterminate magnetization state of each sense layer in an in-plane orientation to produce a sense magnetization of the first and second sense layers.

Multiple axis magnetic sensor

A pressure sensor includes a diaphragm suspended across a cavity in a substrate. A first group of piezoresistors is provided in the diaphragm, the piezoresistors of the first group being coupled to one another to form a first Wheatstone bridge having first positive and negative output nodes. A second group of piezoresistors is provided in the diaphragm, the piezoresistors of the second group being coupled to one another to form a second Wheatstone bridge having second positive and negative output nodes. The first negative output node of the first Wheatstone bridge is electrically connected to the second positive output node of the second Wheatstone bridge to directly chain the outputs of the Wheatstone bridges. The first and second Wheatstone bridges each produce an output signal as a function of an external pressure stimulus that is combined via the chained arrangement of the Wheatstone bridges to produce a composite output signal.

Pressure sensor having sense elements in multiple wheatstone bridges with chained outputs

A sensor includes groups of sense elements coupled to one another to form multiple Wheatstone bridges, each being configured to produce an output voltage across first and second output nodes. A signal interface circuit for the sensor includes switched capacitor structures, one each of the switched capacitor structures being associated with one each of the Wheatstone bridges. Each switched capacitor structure includes a capacitor having first and second terminals, a first switch for selectively interconnecting the first node of an associated Wheatstone bridge with the first terminal of the capacitor, and a second switch for selectively interconnecting the second node of the associated Wheatstone bridge with the second terminal of the capacitor. A switch state element toggles the first and second switches between a charge state and a readout state to provide a readout voltage that is equivalent to a summation of the voltage outputs of the Wheatstone bridges.

Signal interface circuit and pressure sensor system including same

A magnetic field sensor for sensing an external magnetic field along a sensing direction oriented perpendicular to a plane of the magnetic field sensor comprises a sensor bridge. The sensor bridge has a first sensor leg that includes a first magnetoresistive sense element and a second sensor leg that includes a second magnetoresistive sense element. The first and second sense elements include respective first and second pinned layers having corresponding first and second reference magnetizations within the plane and oriented in the same direction. The first and second sense elements further include respective first and second sense layers, each having an indeterminate magnetization state. A permanent magnet layer is proximate the magnetoresistive sense elements. In the absence of an external magnetic field, the permanent magnet layer magnetically biases the indeterminate magnetization state of each sense layer to produce a sense magnetization of the first and second sense layers.

Magnetic field sensor with permanent magnet biasing

A sensor for sensing an external magnetic field along a sensing direction comprises a sensor bridge. The sensor bridge has a first sensor leg that includes a first magnetoresistive sense element and a second sensor leg that includes a second magnetoresistive sense element. The first and second sense elements have respective first and second pinned layers having the same reference magnetization. The first and second sense elements have respective first and second sense layers, each self-biased to have a first sense magnetization. A permanent magnet layer is proximate the second sense element. In the absence of an external magnetic field, the permanent magnet layer magnetically biases the first sense magnetization of the second sense layer produce a second sense magnetization of the second sense layer that differs from the first sense magnetization, and the first sense layer of the first sense element retains the first sense magnetization.

Magnetic field sensor with multiple axis sense capability

A magnetic field sensor comprises a sensor bridge having multiple sensor legs. Each sensor leg includes magnetoresistive sense elements located in a plane of the magnetic field sensor. Each sense element comprises a pinned layer and a sense layer. The pinned layer has a reference magnetization oriented parallel to the plane and the sense layer has a sense magnetization oriented out-of-plane. A permanent magnet layer may be spaced apart from the sense elements which magnetically biases the sense magnetization of the sense layer into an out-of-plane direction that is non-perpendicular to the plane of the sensor. The sense magnetization is orientable from the out-of-plane direction toward the plane of the sensor in response to an external magnetic field. The permanent magnet layer enables detection of the external magnetic field in a sensing direction that is also perpendicular to the plane of the magnetic field sensor.

A sensor package includes a magnetic field sensor and a corruption detection and reset subsystem. The magnetic field sensor has a magnetic sense element and a ferromagnetic structure characterized by a baseline magnetic state. The subsystem includes a detector element, a processor, and current carrying structure positioned in proximity to the ferromagnetic structure. Methodology performed by the subsystem entails detecting at the detector element an altered magnetic state of the ferromagnetic structure, where the altered magnetic state differs from the baseline magnetic state. Methodology further entails determining, at the processor, when a reset action is needed in response to the altered magnetic state and applying a reset magnetic field to the ferromagnetic structure to reset the ferromagnetic structure from the altered magnetic state to the baseline magnetic state.

Corruption detection and smart reset of ferromagnetic structures in magnetic field sensors

A magnetic field sensor comprises a sensor bridge having multiple sensor legs. Each sensor leg includes magnetoresistive sense elements, each comprising a pinned layer having a reference magnetization parallel to a plane of the sensor and a sense layer having a sense magnetization. A permanent magnet layer spaced apart from the sense elements magnetically biases the sense magnetization into an out-of-plane direction that is non-perpendicular to the plane of the sensor. The sense magnetization of a portion of the sense elements is oriented in a first direction and the sense magnetization of a different portion of the sense elements is oriented in a second direction differing from the first direction to generate two unique bias field vectors of the sense layers which enables detection of the external magnetic field in a sensing direction that is perpendicular to the plane of the magnetic field sensor without inter-axis coupling of sensor response.

Magnetic field sensor with multiple sense layer magnetization orientations

A device package includes a substrate having an active surface. Electrical connection bumps are deposited on the active surface and are arranged in an array having a perimeter. At least one electronic component is formed at a region of the active surface, where the region is located outside of the perimeter of the array of electrical connection bumps. When the device package is coupled with external circuitry via the electrical connection bumps, the region at which the electronic component is formed is suspended over the electronic circuitry. This region is subject to a lower stress profile than a region of the active surface circumscribed by the perimeter. Thus, stress sensitive electronic components can be located in this lower stress region of the active surface.

Package with low stress region for an electronic component

A magnetic field sensor comprises a sensor bridge having multiple sensor legs. Each sensor leg includes magnetoresistive sense elements, each comprising a pinned layer having a reference magnetization parallel to a plane of the sensor and a sense layer having a sense magnetization that is skewed away from three orthogonal axes. The sense magnetization of a portion of the sense elements is oriented in a first direction and the sense magnetization of a different portion of the sense elements is magnetically biased in a second direction by a permanent magnet layer. The second direction differs from the first direction by an opposing angular magnitude to yield a balanced sensor bridge that produces a zero-offset outcome in the absence of an external magnetic field.

Magnetic field sensor with skewed sense magnetization of sense layer

A magnetic field sensor includes in-plane sense elements located in a plane of the magnetic field sensor and configured to detect a magnetic field oriented perpendicular to the plane. A current carrying structure is positioned proximate the magnetic field sensor and includes at least one coil surrounding the in-plane sense elements. An electric current is applied to the coil to create a self-test magnetic field to be sensed by the sense elements. The coil may be vertically displaced from the plane in which the sense elements are located and laterally displaced from an area occupied by the sense elements to produce both Z-axis magnetic field components and lateral magnetic field components of the self-test magnetic field. The sense elements are arranged within the coil and interconnected to cancel the lateral magnetic field components, while retaining the Z-axis magnetic field components to be used for self-test of the magnetic field sensor.

Sensor package including a magnetic field sensor and a continuous coil structure for enabling z-axis self-test capability

A sensor package includes a magnetic field sensor, where the magnetic field sensor includes an in-plane sense element and a flux guide configured to direct a magnetic field oriented perpendicular to a plane of the magnetic field sensor into the plane. A current carrying structure is positioned proximate the flux guide and circuitry is coupled to the current carrying structure. The current carrying structure includes a continuous coil having multiple substantially parallel conductive segments connected by additional conductive segments oriented Perpendicular to the parallel conductive segments to form a continuous series of loops. The circuitry is configured to provide an electric current to the continuous coil such that the electric current flows through each of the parallel conductive segments, wherein the electric current generates a magnetic field, and the magnetic field is applied to the flux guide to recondition a magnetic polarization of the flux guide.

Magnetic field sensor with structure for reconditioning magnetic polarization of flux guides

Methods, systems and apparatus are provided to apply a magnetic pre-conditioning to magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) sensors and other micro-magnetic devices after fabrication but before testing, trimming or other subsequent processing. The fabricated sensor device is passed through a magnetic field that has a known direction and orientation relative to the device so that the device is placed into a known state prior to final testing and trimming. Various embodiments allow the field to be applied in situ by a permanent magnet or electromagnet as the devices are being processed by a conventional device handler or similar processing system.

Magnetic pre-conditioning of magnetic sensors

A front-end-of-line through-substrate via is provided for application in certain semiconductor device fabrication, including microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices. The through-substrate via (TSV) has a conductive element formed from the cylindrical core of a ring-shaped isolating etch trench. The conductivity of the core is provided by in-diffusion of dopants from a highly-doped layer deposited along sidewalls of the core within the etched trench. The highly-doped layer used as the diffusion source can be either conductive or insulating, depending upon the application. The highly-doped diffusion source layer can be retained after diffusion to further contribute to the conductivity of the TSV, to help fill or seal the via, or can be partially or completely removed. Embodiments provide for the drive in-diffusion process to use a same heating step as that used for thermal oxidation to fill or seal the via trench. Other embodiments can provide for diffusion elements from a gaseous source.

Through substrate via with diffused conductive component

A method () entails providing () a structure (), providing () a controller element (), and bonding () the controller element to an outer surface () of the structure. The structure includes a sensor wafer () and a cap wafer () Inner surfaces () of the wafers () are coupled together, with sensors () interposed between the wafers. One wafer () includes a substrate portion () with bond pads () formed on its inner surface (). The other wafer () conceals the substrate portion (). After bonding, methodology () entails forming () conductive elements () on the element (), removing () material sections () from the wafers to expose the bond pads, forming () electrical interconnects (), applying () packaging material (), and singulating () to produce sensor packages ().

Sensor packaging method and sensor packages

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Phoenix, AZ, United States of America

Paige M Holm