The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 18, 2003
Filed:
Nov. 18, 1998
Maurice S. Karpman, Brookline, MA (US);
Dipak Sengupta, Boxboro, MA (US);
Analog Devices, Inc., Norwood, MA (US);
Abstract
A cover cap for semiconductor wafer devices is disclosed. According to the invention, a wafer of material that is at least one of photo-etchable or transparent is patterned and attached as a cover to a substrate including a number of semiconductor devices. Preferably, the cover wafer is made from a photo-etchable material so that portions of the cover wafer may be selectively sensitized and etched. In particular, one or more cover caps may be defined in the cover wafer such that each cover cap corresponds to a respective device on the device substrate. Once the cover wafer is attached to the device substrate to form an assembly, the assembly is diced into individual devices and the devices are packaged. The invention provides several advantages for a number of semiconductor device fabrication applications, including those relating to image sensors, and micro-machined devices such as MEMS. For example, a cover wafer attached to the device substrate prior to dicing and packaging of individual devices provides more robust devices by protecting the device substrate from any number of environmental hazards, such as particulate contamination, moisture, processing agents such as solvents, and inadvertent scratching of the device substrate surface.