Texas Instruments Corporation

National Semiconductor Corporation

William David French

Peter J Hopper

Dok Won Lee

Roozbeh Parsa

Ann Gabrys

Erika Lynn Mazotti

Constantin Bulucea

Sandeep Raj Bahl

Peter B Johnson

Philipp Lindorfer

Jeng-Jiun Yang

Ricky A Jackson

Donald M Archer

D Courtney Parker

Vladislav Vashchenko

Andrei Papou

Keith Ryan Green

Terry Dyer

Nathan Brockie

Peter Smeys

Kyuwoon Hwang

Anuraag Mohan

Iouri N Mirgorodski

Paul Mawson

Steven Hunt

Yuri Mirgorodski

Sudtida Lavangkul

Martin Fallon

Thomas Dyer Bonifield

Alexei Sadovnikov

Neil Gibson

Fuchao Wang

Richard Wendell Foote, Jr

Prasad Chaparala

Byron J R Shulver

Punit Bhola

Benjamin Stassen Cook

Mark R Visokay

Visvamohan Yegnashankaran

Robert Drury

Wai Lee

Will Kiang Wong

Jo Bito

David Courtney Parker

Noboru Nakanishi

Ubol Udompanyavit

David I Anderson

Byron Jon Roderick Shulver

Aditi Dutt Chaudhuri

Andrew James West

Peter L Hopper

Christopher Eric Brannon

Richard Wendell Foote

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

A microelectronic device has a Hall sensor that includes a Hall plate in a semiconductor material. The Hall sensor includes contact regions in the semiconductor material, contacting the Hall plate. The Hall sensor includes an isolation structure with a dielectric material contacting the semiconductor material, on at least two opposite sides of each of the contact regions. The isolation structure is laterally separated from the contact regions by gaps. The Hall sensor further includes a conductive spacer over the gaps, the conductive spacer being separated from the semiconductor material by an insulating layer.

Hall sensor with dielectric isolation and p-n junction isolation

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

An integrated microfabricated sensor includes a sensor cell having a cell body, a first window attached to the cell body, and a second window attached to the cell body. The cell body laterally surrounds a cavity, so that both windows are exposed to the cavity. The sensor cell contains a sensor fluid material in the cavity. The cavity has concave profiles at cell body walls, so that the cavity is wider in a central region, approximately midway between the first window and the second window, than at the first surface and at the second surface. The cell body walls of the cell body have acute interior angles at both windows. The cell body is formed using an etch process that removes material from the cell body concurrently at the first surface and the second surface, forming the acute interior angles at both the first surface and the second surface.

Concave cavity for integrated microfabricated sensor

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 electromagnetic sensing device with a package substrate, a first die mounted on the package substrate, and a second die mounted on the package substrate. The first die includes a first integrated circuit and a first magnetic core formed above the first integrated circuit. The first magnetic core has a first sensing axis parallel to a planar surface of the package substrate. The second die includes a second integrated circuit and a second magnetic core formed above the second integrated circuit. The second magnetic core has a second sensing axis orthogonal to the planar surface of the package substrate.

Integrated fluxgate device with three-dimensional sensing

An integrated fluxgate device has a magnetic core disposed over a semiconductor substrate. A first winding is disposed in a first metallization level above and a second metallization level below the magnetic core, and is configured to generate a first magnetic field in the magnetic core. A second winding is disposed in the first and second metallization levels and is configured to generate a second magnetic field in the magnetic core. A third winding is disposed in the first and second metallization levels and is configured to sense a magnetic field in the magnetic core that is the net of the first and second magnetic fields.

Highly sensitive, low power fluxgate magnetic sensor integrated onto semiconductor process technologies

A micro-fabricated atomic clock structure is thermally insulated so that the atomic clock structure can operate with very little power in an environment where the external temperature can drop to &#x2212;40&#xb0; C., while at the same time maintaining the temperature required for the proper operation of the VCSEL and the gas within the vapor cell.

Micro-fabricated atomic clock structure and method of forming the atomic clock structure

An integrated microfabricated sensor includes a sensor cell having a cell body, a first window attached to a first surface, and a second window attached to a second surface, opposite to the first window. The cell body laterally surrounds a cavity, so that the first window and the second window are exposed to the cavity. The sensor cell contains a sensor fluid material in the cavity. The cell body has recesses on opposing exterior sides of the cell body; each recess extends from the first surface to the second surface. Exterior portions of the cell body wall in the recesses are recessed from singulation surfaces on the cell body exterior. The cell body is formed by etching the cavity and the recesses concurrently through a body substrate. After the windows are attached, the sensor cell is singulated from the body substrate through the recesses.

Microfabricated atomic clocks and magnetometers utilizing side recesses

A microfabricated sensor includes a sensor cell with a cell body and a window attached to the cell body. A sensor cavity containing sensor fluid material is located in cell body, open to the window. A signal path extends from a signal emitter outside the sensor cell, through the window and sensor cavity, and to a signal detector. The sensor cell may have an asymmetric thermal configuration, conducive to developing a temperature gradient in the sensor cell. One or more heaters are disposed on the sensor cell, possibly in an asymmetric configuration. Power is applied to the heaters, possibly asymmetrically, so as to develop a temperature gradient in the sensor cell with a low temperature region in the sensor cell, sufficient to condense the sensor fluid in the low temperature region, outside of the signal path.

Temperature gradient in microfabricated sensor cavity

A microfabricated sensor includes a first reflector and a second reflector in a sensor cell, separated by a cavity path segment through a sensor cavity in the sensor cell. A signal window is part of the sensor cell. A signal emitter and a signal detector are disposed outside of the sensor cavity. The signal emitter is separated from the first reflector by an emitter path segment which extends through the signal window. The second reflector is separated from the second reflector by a detector path segment which extends through the signal window.

Extended signal paths in microfabricated sensors

Disclosed examples provide wafer-level integration of magnetoresistive sensors and Hall-effect sensors in a single integrated circuit, in which one or more vertical and/or horizontal Hall sensors are formed on or in a substrate along with transistors and other circuitry, and a magnetoresistive sensor circuit is formed in the IC metallization structure.

Integrated circuit with hall effect and anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensors

Some embodiments are directed to an anisotropic magneto-resistive (AMR) angle sensor. The sensor comprises a first Wheatstone bridge comprising a first serpentine resistor, a second serpentine resistor, a third serpentine resistor, and a fourth serpentine resistor. The sensor also comprises a second Wheatstone bridge comprising a fifth serpentine resistor, a sixth serpentine resistor, a seventh serpentine resistor, and an eighth serpentine resistor. The serpentine resistors comprise anisotropic magneto-resistive material that changes resistance in response to a change in an applied magnetic field. The sensor also includes a surrounding of anisotropic magneto-resistive material disposed in substantially a same plane as the serpentine resistors, enclosing the serpentine resistors, and electrically isolated from the serpentine resistors. The first Wheatstone bridge, the second Wheatstone bridge, and the surrounding of anisotropic magneto-resistive material are part of a sensor die.

Anisotropic magneto-resistive (AMR) angle sensor

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

William David French