National Semiconductor Corporation

Invensense, Inc.

Texas Instruments Corporation

Altera Corporation

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Peter Smeys

Peter B Johnson

Andrei Papou

Peter J Hopper

Jong Il Shin

Jongwoo Shin

Peter Deane

Ting-Ta Yen

Jeronimo Segovia Fernandez

Daesung Lee

William David French

Martin Lim

Anuraag Mohan

Benjamin Stassen Cook

Mohammad Hadi Motieian Najar

Mozafar Maghsoudnia

Scott Robert Summerfelt

Thomas Dyer Bonifield

Barry Jon Male

Bongsang Kim

Reda R Razouk

Sreeram Subramanyam Nasum

Ning Cheng

Edgardo F Klass

Robert Allan Neidorff

Bichoy Bahr

Steven Alfred Kummerl

Dok Won Lee

Ahmad Reza Bahai

Shuxian Chen

Kyuwoon Hwang

Ali Djabbari

Ann Gabrys

Mayank Gupta

Albert Ratnakumar

Paul Merle Emerson

Joyce Marie Mullenix

Chunchieh Huang

Girish Venkitachalam

David I Anderson

Gokhan Percin

Charu Sardana

Aditi Dutt Chaudhuri

Deepa Ratakonda

Jong Ii Shin

Peter Johnson

In one example, a semiconductor device includes an acoustic medium, a first transducer on the acoustic medium, a first electrode coupled to the first transducer, a second transducer on the acoustic medium, and a second electrode coupled to the second acoustic transducer. The semiconductor device also includes a semiconductor substrate to support the acoustic medium and first and second transducers. Mold compound encapsulates at least a portion of the acoustic medium, the first acoustic transducer, the second acoustic transducer, and the semiconductor substrate.

Acoustic isolator

In described examples of an integrated circuit (IC) there is a substrate of semiconductor material having a first region with a first transistor formed therein and a second region with a second transistor formed therein. An isolation trench extends through the substrate and separates the first region of the substrate from the second region of the substrate. An interconnect region having layers of dielectric is disposed on a top surface of the substrate. A dielectric polymer is disposed in the isolation trench and in a layer over the backside surface of the substrate. An edge of the polymer layer is separated from the perimeter edge of the substrate by a space.

Through wafer trench isolation between transistors in an integrated circuit

In one embodiment, a transducer comprises a first piezoelectric stack comprising a piezoelectric material; a first layer in contact with the piezoelectric stack; and a base structure beneath the first layer. The first layer has a first displacement between a first portion of the base structure and the first layer, and the first displacement is configurable by a first bias voltage received by the transducer.

Multi-frequency hybrid piezo actuation and capactive transducer

A laterally vibrating bulk acoustic wave (LVBAW) resonator includes a piezoelectric plate sandwiched between first and second metal layers. The second metal layer is patterned into an interdigital transducer (IDT) with comb-shaped electrodes having interlocking fingers. The width and pitch of the fingers of the electrodes determine the resonant frequency. A combined thickness of the first and second metal layers and the piezoelectric layer is less than the pitch of the interlocking fingers.

Laterally vibrating bulk acoustic wave resonator

A torque sensor chip including a semiconductor substrate, an acoustic reflector formed on the semiconductor substrate, and first and second Lamb wave resonators (LWRs). The first LWR is formed on a side of the acoustic reflector opposite the semiconductor substrate. The first LWR is at a first angle with respect to an axis of the IC. The second LWR also is formed on the side of the acoustic reflector opposite the semiconductor substrate. The second LWR is at a second angle, different than the first angle, with respect to the axis of the IC.

Lamb wave resonator-based torque sensor

Described examples include devices and methods for measuring relative humidity of an environment using inductance. The devices can include a resonant circuit, including a capacitor and an inductor. The inductor includes a moisture-absorbing core with at least a portion thereof exposed to an environment, with at least one magnetic property of the core being variable in response to changing levels of moisture in the environment. An excitation circuit provides an AC excitation signal to the resonant circuit. A sense circuit determines an inductance of the inductor according to a sense signal from the resonant circuit. The sense circuit is coupled to generate an output signal that indicates a humidity level of the environment according to the sense signal.

Inductive humidity sensor and method

A resonator includes a substrate, an acoustic Bragg mirror disposed above the substrate, and a bottom metal layer disposed above the acoustic Bragg mirror. The resonator also includes a piezoelectric plate disposed above the bottom metal layer. The resonator further includes a top metal layer disposed above the piezoelectric plate. The top metal layer comprises multiple fingers within a single plane and the width of each of the fingers is between 75%-125% of a thickness of the piezoelectric plate.

Highly dispersive bulk acoustic wave resonators

Semiconductor devices and methods and apparatus to produce such semiconductor devices are disclosed. An integrated circuit package includes a lead frame including a die attach pad and a plurality of leads; a die including a MEMs region defined by a plurality of trenches, the die electrically connected to the plurality of leads; and a mold compound covering portions of the die, the mold compound defining a cavity between a surface of the die and a surface of the mold compound, wherein the mold compound defines a vent.

Semiconductor devices and methods and apparatus to produce such semiconductor devices

A MEMS resonator is operated at its parallel resonance frequency. An acoustic wave is propagated laterally away from a central region of the MEMS resonator through a piezoelectric layer of the MEMS resonator. The propagating acoustic wave is attenuated with concentric confiners that surround and are spaced apart from a perimeter of an electrode that forms the MEMS resonator.

Piezoelectric resonator with patterned resonant confiners

A micromechanical system (MEMS) resonator includes a base substrate. A piezoelectric layer has a first electrode attached to a first surface of the piezoelectric layer and a second electrode attached to a second surface of the piezoelectric layer opposite the first electrode. The first electrode is bounded by a perimeter edge. A patterned acoustic mirror is formed on a top surface of the first electrode opposite the piezoelectric layer, such that the patterned acoustic mirror covers a border strip of the top surface of the first electrode at the perimeter edge and does not cover an active portion of the top surface of the first electrode.

Using acoustic reflector to reduce spurious modes

Provided herein is an apparatus including a cavity in a first side of a first silicon wafer, and an oxide layer on the first side and in the cavity. A first side of a second silicon wafer is bonded to the first side of the first silicon wafer. A gap control structure is on a second side of the second silicon wafer, and a MEMS structure in the second silicon wafer. A eutectic bond is bonding the second side of the second silicon wafer to a third silicon wafer. A lower cavity is between the second side of the silicon wafer and the third silicon wafer, wherein the gap control structure is outside of the lower cavity and the eutectic bond.

MEMS gap control structures

A hybrid micromachined ultrasound transducer includes a piezoelectric micromachined transducer and a capacitive micromachined transducer. The capacitive micromachined transducer is vertically stacked with the piezoelectric micromachined transducer. The piezoelectric micromachined transducer and the capacitive micromachined transducer include a common shared electrode.

Micromachined ultrasound transducer

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to measure a resonant sensor based on detection of group delay. An example apparatus includes a modulation manager configured to query the resonant sensor with a modulated signal including a frequency; and a resonance determiner configured to determine a resonance frequency of the resonant sensor based on a group delay associated with the resonant sensor and the frequency.

Methods and apparatus to measure resonant sensors based on detection of group delay

Described examples include microelectronic devices and integrated circuits with an active first circuit in a first segment of a first wafer, a second circuit in a second segment of the first wafer, and second and third wafers bonded to different surfaces of the first wafer to provide first and second cavities with surfaces spaced from the first segment. An opening extends through the first wafer between the first and second cavities to separate portions of the first and second segments and to form a sealed cavity that surrounds the first segment. A bridge segment of the first wafer supports the first segment in the sealed cavity and includes one or more conductive structures to electrically connect the first and second circuits.

Thermal and stress isolation for precision circuit

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Peter Smeys