Techniques for making hermetic feedthroughs for enclosures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10945347-B2
Application number	US-201916708171-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2019
Priority date	Dec 27, 2018
Publication date	Mar 9, 2021
Grant date	Mar 9, 2021

Abstract

The disclosure describes various aspects of techniques that can be used for making hermetic feedthroughs for enclosures. For example, a panel that provides a hermetic seal to a system enclosure can include an enclosure board made of a printed circuit board (PCB) and configured to have a size and shape that precisely covers an access to the system enclosure, the enclosure board including multiple inner connectors on an inner side of the PCB facing the inside of the system enclosure and multiple outer connectors on an outer side of the PCB facing the outside the system enclosure for feeding one or more of signals or fluids (e.g., gases, liquids, vacuum) through the PCB by having inner and outer connectors connected through the PCB. The panel may further include a gasket fitting the size and shape of the enclosure board and used with the enclosure board to provide the hermetic seal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A panel that provides a hermetic seal to a system enclosure, comprising:
an enclosure board made of a printed circuit board (PCB) and configured to have a size and shape that precisely covers an access to the system enclosure, the enclosure board including multiple inner connectors on an inner side of the PCB facing the inside of the system enclosure and multiple outer connectors on an outer side of the PCB facing the outside the system enclosure for feeding one or more signals and one or more fluids through the PCB by having the inner connectors connected with the outer connectors through the PCB, the fluids including one or more of gases, liquids, or vacuum; and
a gasket fitting the size and shape of the enclosure board and used with the enclosure board to provide the hermetic seal.

2. The panel of claim 1 , wherein:
the outer connectors include a first electrical connector configured to be coupled to a first cable that resides outside the system enclosure, and
the inner connectors include a second electrical connector that corresponds to and is electrically connected with the first electrical connector through the PCB, and is configured to be coupled to a second cable that resides within the system enclosure.

3. The panel of claim 2 , wherein the first cable and the second cable are both coaxial cables or computer cables.

4. The panel of claim 2 , wherein:
the first electrical connector is configured to provide a first signal from the first cable to the second electrical connector through the PCB for the first signal to be available to the second cable without breaking the hermetic seal,
the second electrical connector is configured to provide a second signal from the second cable to the first electrical connector through the PCB for the second signal to be available to the first cable without breaking the hermetic seal, or
a combination thereof.

5. The panel of claim 4 , wherein:
the enclosure board includes one or more active or passive electronic circuits on the outer side of the PCB to process the first signal, the second signal, or both,
the enclosure board includes one or more active or passive electronic circuits on the inner side of the PCB to process the first signal, the second signal, or both, or
a combination thereof.

6. The panel of claim 5 , wherein the PCB includes multiple vias for the one or more active electronic circuits on the outer side of the PCB, for the one or more active electronic circuits on the inner side of the PCB, or for both, and the multiple vias are small diameter vias treated with a hot air solder leveling (HASL) finish to maintain the hermetic seal.

7. The panel of claim 2 , wherein the first electrical connector is of a same type as the second electrical connector.

8. The panel of claim 2 , wherein a location of the first electrical connector on the inner side of the PCB is different from a location of the second electrical connector on the outer side of the PCB, the electrical connection between the first electrical connector and the second electrical connector being made by one or more traces in the PCB that connect the two locations.

9. The panel of claim 1 , wherein the outer connectors include an electrical connector configured to provide to one or more of the inner connectors a radio frequency (RF) signal, a microwave signal, a power signal, a control signal, or a data signal that is to be used within the system enclosure.

10. The panel of claim 1 , wherein the inner connectors include an electrical connector configured to provide to one or more of the outer connectors a measurement signal generated by a sensor within the system enclosure.

11. The panel of claim 1 , wherein the inner connectors include an electrical connector configured to provide to one or more of the outer connectors a data signal generated within the system enclosure.

12. The panel of claim 1 , wherein the inner connectors include an electrical connector that is hermetically sealed by solder used to connect the electrical connector to the PCB.

13. The panel of claim 1 , wherein the outer connectors include an electrical connector that is hermetically sealed by solder used to connect the electrical connector to the PCB.

14. The panel of claim 1 , wherein the outer connectors include one or more sets of electrical connectors, each set of electrical connectors located in a different location of the outer side of the PCB, and the electrical connectors in each set being arranged in an array for ease of identification and access.

15. The panel of claim 1 , wherein:
the outer connectors include first fluid couplers configured to receive a gas or fluid, and
the inner connectors include second fluid couplers, each of which corresponds to one of the first fluid couplers through the PCB and is configured to introduce the gas or fluid from the respective first fluid coupler into the system enclosure.

16. The panel of claim 15 , wherein the fluid includes processing gas, purging air/gas, water, coolant, or vacuum.

17. The panel of claim 1 , wherein:
the outer connectors include a first fluid coupler, and
the inner connectors include a second fluid coupler that corresponds to the first fluid coupler through the PCB, the first fluid coupler being configured to be coupled to a system that pulls vacuum from the system enclosure through the second fluid coupler.

18. The panel of claim 1 , wherein:
the outer connectors include a first fluid coupler configured to be coupled to a first duct outside of the system enclosure, the first duct being configured to provide a fluid to be introduced into the system enclosure, and
the inner connectors include an second fluid coupler corresponding to the first fluid connector and configured to be coupled to a second duct within the system enclosure to introduce into the system enclosure the fluid.

19. The panel of claim 1 , wherein the enclosure board and the gasket are configured to hermetically seal a vacuum chamber within the system enclosure.

20. The panel of claim 19 , wherein the vacuum chamber within the system enclosure includes a quantum information processing (QIP) system.

21. The panel of claim 1 , wherein a number of inner connectors is different from a number of outer connectors.

22. The panel of claim 1 , wherein:
the outer connectors include a first electrical connector configured to be coupled to a first cable that resides outside the system enclosure,
the inner connectors include a second electrical connector and third electrical connector respectively configured to be coupled to a second cable and a third cable that reside inside the system enclosure,
signals carried by the first electrical connector and the first cable include a first subset of signals and a second subset of signals, the first subset of signals being passed to the second electrical connector and the second cable and the second subset of signals being passed to the third electrical connector and the third cable.

23. The panel of claim 22 , wherein the first electrical connector is a radio frequency (RF) ganged connector, and the second electrical connector and the third electrical connectors are individual RF connectors.

24. The panel of claim 1 , wherein:
the inner connectors include a first electrical connector configured to be coupled to a first cable that resides inside the system enclosure,
the outer connectors include a second electrical connector and third electrical

Assignees

• Ionq Inc
• Lonq Inc

Inventors

• Solomon Phillip
• Hudek Kai
• Amini Jason Madjdi

Classifications

• H05K2201/10189

  Non-printed connector · CPC title

• H05K2201/10151

  Sensor · CPC title

• H05K5/069 Primary

  Other details of the casing, e.g. wall structure, passage for a connector, a cable, a shaft · CPC title

• H05K2201/10545

  Related components mounted on both sides of the PCB · CPC title

• H05K1/0272

  Adaptations for fluid transport, e.g. channels, holes · CPC title