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:
May. 29, 2018
Filed:
Mar. 08, 2017
Tower Semiconductor Ltd., Migdal Haemek, IL;
Newport Fab Llc, Newport Beach, CA (US);
Yakov Roizin, Afula, IL;
Rassul Karabalin, Huntington Beach, CA (US);
David J. Howard, Irvine, CA (US);
Tower Semiconductor Ltd., Migdal Haemek, IL;
Newport Fab, LLC, Newport Beach, CA (US);
Abstract
A solid-state fingerprint sensor including an array of pixels, each pixel including an electrically isolated NVM structure, a security NVM cell and a normally-open MEMS switch. The electrically isolated NVM structure includes a polycrystalline silicon gate structure connected by a metal via structure to a fixed electrode that forms part of the MEMS switch. Initial charges stored on the electrically isolated NVM structures before each sensing operation are discharged to ground by the MEMS switch when a fingerprint ridge is aligned with the pixel and produces an applied actuating force on the MEMs switch. Final pixel charge values (i.e., either the initial charge or no charge) stored on each electrically isolated NVM structure after each sensing operation are encrypted using security bits stored on the security NVM cells such that only encrypted image data is transmitted from the pixels to external circuitry.