Wafer-level packaged microelectronic imagers having interconnects formed through terminals

Abstract

The following disclosure describes several embodiments of (1) methods for wafer-level packaging of microelectronic imagers, (2) methods of forming electrically conductive interconnects in microelectronic imagers, (3) methods for forming optical devices for microelectronic imagers, and (4) microelectronic imagers that have been packaged using wafer-level packaging processes. Wafer-level packaging of microelectronic imagers is expected to significantly enhance the efficiency of manufacturing microelectronic imagers because a plurality of imagers can be packaged simultaneously using highly accurate and efficient processes developed for packaging semiconductor devices. Moreover, wafer-level packaging of microelectronic imagers is expected to enhance the quality and performance of such imagers because the semiconductor fabrication processes can reliably align an optical device with an image sensor and space the optical device apart from the image sensor by a desired distance with a higher degree of precision.