Flexible hermetic membranes with electrically conducting vias

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10857368-B2
Application number	US-201815936495-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2018
Priority date	Mar 27, 2017
Publication date	Dec 8, 2020
Grant date	Dec 8, 2020

Abstract

Disclosed herein are electrically conductive and hermetic vias disposed within an insulator substrate of a feedthrough assembly and methods for making and using the same. Such aspects of the present invention consequently provide for the miniaturization of feedthrough assemblies inasmuch as the feedthrough components of the present invention are capable of supporting very small and hermetic conductively filled via holes in the absence of additional components, such as, for example, terminal pins, leadwires, and the like.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A feedthrough assembly, comprising:
a) a ferrule comprising an electrically conductive material, the ferrule comprising a ferrule opening, wherein the ferrule is configured to be attachable to an opening in a housing of a medical device;
b) an insulator at least partially residing in the ferrule opening where a gold braze hermetically seals the insulator to the ferrule, wherein the insulator has a thickness extending to an insulator first side and an insulator second side with at least one via hole extending through the thickness of the insulator;
c) a via hole metallization residing in the via hole to thereby form an at least one metallized via hole, wherein the via hole metallization extends to a via hole metallization extended portion residing on at least one of the insulator first and second sides; and
d) an electrically conductive material residing in the at least one metallized via hole and being hermetically sealed to the via hole metallization to thereby form a hermetic and electrically conductive pathway extending to the insulator first and second sides.

2. The feedthrough assembly of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive material is substantially pure gold.

3. The feedthrough assembly of claim 1 , wherein an adhesion layer contacts an internal surface of the at least one via hole, and a wetting layer resides at least partially on the adhesion layer to form the via hole metallization of the at least one metallized via hole.

4. The feedthrough assembly of claim 3 , wherein the wetting layer contacts the electrically conductive material to form the hermetic and electrically conductive pathway.

5. The feedthrough assembly of claim 1 , wherein the via hole metallization comprises one or more materials selected from the group of titanium, iridium, niobium, tantalum, ruthenium, zirconium, palladium, molybdenum, silver, platinum, copper, carbon, and mixtures thereof.

6. The feedthrough assembly of claim 1 , wherein the insulator comprises one or more layers of a material at least partially composed of zirconium oxide, sapphire, zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA), yttria-stabilized-zirconia (YSZ), and 3 mol % yttria-stabilized-zirconia (3YSZ).

7. The feedthrough assembly of claim 1 , wherein an electrically conductive material overlay portion substantially covers the via hole metallization extended portion residing on the at least one of the insulator first and second sides.

8. The feedthrough assembly of claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the insulator is from about 20 μm to about 40 μm.

9. The feedthrough assembly of claim 7 , further comprising at least one metal cover pad conductively connected to the electrically conductive material overlay portion residing on the at least one of the insulator first and second sides.

10. The feedthrough assembly of claim 1 , wherein the via hole metallization extended portion comprises a via hole metallization first extended portion residing on the insulator first side and a via hole metallization second extended portion residing on the insulator second side, and wherein the electrically conductive material comprises an electrically conductive material first overlay portion substantially overlaying the via hole metallization first extended portion and an electrically conductive material second overlay portion substantially overlaying the via hole metallization second extended portion, the electrically conductive material first and second overlay portions being continuous with the electrically conductive material residing in the at least one metallized via hole.

11. The feedthrough assembly of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive material extends to an electrically conductive material third overlay portion directly contacting at least one of the insulator first and second sides.

12. The feedthrough assembly of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive material comprises an electrically conductive material first overlay portion directly contacting the insulator first side and an electrically conductive material second overlay portion directly contacting the insulator second side, the electrically conductive material first and second overlay portions being continuous with the electrically conductive material residing in the at least one metallized via hole.

13. The feedthrough assembly of claim 1 , wherein the at least one via hole has a first diameter and the via hole metallization extended portion has a second diameter, and wherein the second diameter is about 2 to 5 times greater than the first diameter.

14. The feedthrough assembly of claim 1 ,
i) wherein the ferrule is configured to be attached to a metal housing of an implantable medical device, and
ii) wherein the at least one via hole extends through the insulator to an insulator external device side end surface at the insulator first side opposite an insulator internal device side end surface at the insulator second side, and
iii) wherein, when the ferrule hermetically sealed to the insulator is attached to the AIMD housing, the insulator external device side end surface and the insulator internal device side end surface reside outside and inside the implantable device housing, respectively.

15. The feedthrough assembly of claim 1 , wherein the at least one via hole has a taper providing a larger open diameter at the insulator first side than at the insulator second side.

16. The feedthrough assembly of claim 1 , being configured for connection to an implantable medical device selected from the group of a pacemaker, a cardioverter-defibrillator, a neurostimulator, a drug pump, a ventricular assist device, a nerve stimulator, a brain stimulator, an organ stimulator, a muscle stimulator, a monitor, a sensor, a cardiac contractility modulator, a drug administering device, a diagnostic recorder, and a cochlear implant.

17. A flexible substrate comprising:
a) an insulator having a thickness extending to an insulator first side and an insulator second side;
b) at least one via hole extending through the thickness of the insulator;
c) a via hole metallization residing at least partially on an internal surface of the at least one via hole to form at least one metallized via hole, wherein the via hole metallization extends to a via hole metallization extended portion residing on at least one of the insulator first and second sides; and
d) an electrically conductive material residing in the at least one metallized via hole and being sealed to the via hole metallization to thereby form a hermetic and electrically conductive pathway extending to the insulator first and second sides.

18. The flexible substrate of claim 17 , wherein the electrically conductive material comprises an electrically conductive material overlay portion that substantially covers the via hole metallization extended portion residing on the at least one of the insulator first and second sides.

19. The flexible substrate of claim 17 , wherein the electrically conductive material is substantially pure gold.

20. The flexible substrate of claim 17 , wherein the via hole metallization comprises one or more materials selected from the group of titanium, iridium, niobium, tantalum, ruthenium, zirconium, palladium, molybdenum, silver, platinum, copper, and carbon, and mixtures thereof.

21. The flexible substrate of claim 17 , wherein the insulator comprises one or more layers of a material at least partially composed of zirconium oxide, sapphire, zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA), yttria-stabilized-zirconia (YSZ

Assignees

• Greatbatch Ltd

Inventors

• Seitz Keith W
• Tang Xiaohong
• Thiebolt William C
• Calamel Jonathan
• Shi Thomas
• Marzano Thomas

Classifications

• H10W76/60

  Seals · CPC title

• H10W72/30

  Die-attach connectors · CPC title

• H10W70/692

  Ceramics or glasses · CPC title

• C03C8/14

  Glass frit mixtures having non-frit additions, e.g. opacifiers, colorants, mill-additions · CPC title

• H05K3/0047

  Drilling of holes · CPC title