Surface sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9396379-B2
Application number	US-201514608598-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 29, 2015
Priority date	Dec 29, 2009
Publication date	Jul 19, 2016
Grant date	Jul 19, 2016

Abstract

The invention relates to a sensor for detection of properties and structures of an organic tissue and its surface, e.g., a fingerprint sensor comprising a chosen number of sensor electrodes at chosen positions for coupling to a finger tissue and its surface having a size less or comparable to the size of the structures, characteristics or properties of the finger tissue or surface, and a processing unit including electronic circuitry connected to said electrodes for detection of the voltage at, or the current flow in the electrodes, thereby providing for detection and collection of information of related capacitance, impedance, electromagnetic field, fingerprint, tissue aliveness or other biometric, physical, physiological, thermal or optical or characteristics or properties of the tissue or its surface positioned over the electrodes, the processing unit being mounted on one side of a substrate and the electrodes being embedded in said substrate, the substrate including through going first, second and third conductive paths between said sensor electrodes and said measurement circuitry. The substrate is made from a polymer material such as Polyimide, implemented as a rigid or a flexible multi layer build-up substrate, said first, second, and third conductive paths are constituted by through going substrate sections of a chosen size and material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A smart card comprising:
a card body having a recess formed therein; and
a sensor unit mounted in the recess and configured to detect features of a surface of an object contacting the sensor unit, the sensor unit comprising:
a contact surface exposed at an external surface of the card body;
a substrate comprising a dielectric material and having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface;
a dielectric layer covering the first surface of the substrate;
a plurality of electrodes mounted on or embedded in the first surface of the substrate;
a plurality of conductive paths;
wherein each conductive path of the plurality of conductive paths extends from a different one of the electrodes and at least partially through the substrate;
a circuit board having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface, wherein the substrate and the dielectric layer are mounted directly or indirectly on the first surface of the circuit board, wherein the circuit board comprises conductor leads extending through the circuit board, and each of the conductive paths is electrically connected with a corresponding one of the conductor leads via direct electrical contact, indirect electrical contact through another conductor, or capacitive coupling; and
at least one processor mounted on the second surface of the circuit board, wherein the circuit board is configured to provide an electrical connection between the conductive paths and the at least one processor via the conductor leads extending through the circuit board, wherein the at least one processor is configured to detect a voltage or current at the electrodes via the conductive paths and conductor leads.

2. The smart card of claim 1 , further comprising an antenna configured for RFID or near field communication.

3. The smart card of claim 1 , further comprising a microchip and electrical conductors connecting the microchip to the sensor unit.

4. The smart card of claim 1 , further comprising:
conductive coupling points disposed on the second surface of the substrate to provide an electrical connection between the at least one processor and the conductor leads, wherein each of the conductive paths terminates at one of the conductive coupling points, wherein a bonding interface on the first surface of the circuit board connects the conductive coupling points to the conductor leads extending through the circuit board.

5. The smart card of claim 4 , wherein the second circuit board surface comprises a solder surface configured to provide a connection between the at least one processor and the sensor unit via the conductor leads extending through the circuit board, and via the solder surface and conductive paths.

6. The smart card of claim 1 , wherein the smart card is configured as a financial transaction card, and the sensor unit is configured to provide user identification.

7. The smart card of claim 1 , wherein the sensor unit is configured to detect fingerprints.

8. The smart card of claim 1 , wherein the card comprises a layered structure of at least three layers and wherein a middle layer includes conductor leads configured to provide electrical connection between the sensor unit and the card body.

9. The smart card of claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of electrodes includes a set of first electrodes and a set of second electrodes,
the plurality of conductive paths includes a set of first conductive paths and a set of second conductive paths,
at least one of the first conductive paths extend from the first electrodes and at least partially through the substrate,
at least one of the second conductive paths extend from the second electrodes and at least partially through the substrate, and
the second electrodes are larger than the first electrodes.

10. The smart card of claim 9 , wherein the first electrodes comprise a set of first conductive lines and the second electrodes comprise a set of second conductive lines, wherein one of the second conductive lines has a larger width than one of the first conductive lines.

11. The smart card of claim 9 , further comprising a conductive shield layer positioned between the set of first electrodes and the second surface of the substrate, and between the set of second electrodes and the second surface of the substrate.

12. The smart card of claim 1 , wherein the circuit board is encapsulated in a polymer resin that is stiff when cured.

Assignees

• Idex Asa

Inventors

• Sløgedal Øyvind
• Bernstein Ralph W

Classifications

• H10W90/724

  between a chip and a stacked insulating package substrate, interposer or RDL · CPC title

• H10W70/63

  Vias, e.g. via plugs · CPC title

• G06K19/07701

  the record carrier comprising an interface suitable for human interaction · CPC title

• G06K9/0002 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06V40/1312

  direct reading, e.g. contactless acquisition · CPC title