Method and apparatus with tiled image sensors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9846246-B2
Application number	US-201715423645-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 3, 2017
Priority date	Aug 18, 2015
Publication date	Dec 19, 2017
Grant date	Dec 19, 2017

Abstract

An M×N array of sensor tiles are attached to a substrate using a compliant layer that includes an adhesive. A thickness of the compliant layer varies depending on a thickness of the sensor tiles so that outward facing sides of the sensor tiles are substantially aligned.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method of fabricating a tiled sensor array, the method comprising:
providing a plurality of M×N sensor tiles, where M and N are positive integers;
providing a substrate facing a bottom side of each of the sensor tiles;
placing a compressible, compliant material between the array of sensor tiles and the substrate;
disposing a first adhesive between the array of sensor tiles and the substrate, the first adhesive contacting the compliant material, the substrate, and the bottom side of the sensor tiles.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a top surface facing the bottom side of each of the sensor tiles, and wherein the apparatus further comprises electronic circuits attached to the top surface of the substrate.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the electronic circuits are electrically connected to the array of sensor tiles.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising a second adhesive between the electronic circuits and the top surface of the substrate, wherein the second adhesive is the same as, or different from, the first adhesive.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein top sides of the sensor tiles are in a common plane, the bottom sides of two of the sensor tiles are each in a different plane, and wherein the compliant material is compressed against the substrate to a different thickness by each of said two of the sensor tiles.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a scintillator material over the top surface of the sensor tiles.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the compliant material is perforated, the first adhesive is disposed in the perforations of the compliant material, and wherein a surface of the perforated compliant material that faces the sensor tiles comprises a lower coefficient of friction than a surface of the compliant material that faces the substrate.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein a gap between adjacent edges of two of the sensor tiles is less than a mean dimension of the pixels of the sensor tiles.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first adhesive, when cured, comprises an elastic modulus at least about 10000 times greater than an elastic modulus of the compliant material.

10. A method of fabricating a tiled sensor array, the method comprising:
providing a substantially flat surface;
aligning a plurality of sensor tiles using the flat surface;
providing a substrate;
placing a compliant layer in contact with the substrate;
disposing an adhesive in contact with the substrate and with the compliant layer; and
pressing the compliant layer against the back sides of the plurality of sensor tiles including disposing the adhesive in contact with the substrate and with the back sides of the plurality of sensor tiles.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the compliant layer comprises a plurality of perforations therethrough, the step of disposing comprises disposing the adhesive into the plurality of perforations such that the adhesive is in contact with the substrate, and wherein the step of pressing comprises the adhesive in the perforations contacting the back sides of the plurality of sensor tiles.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of aligning the plurality of sensor tiles includes aligning the sensor tiles to each other using the flat surface.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of aligning the plurality of sensor tiles includes viewing alignment markings of the flat surface or the sensor tiles using a camera while moving the sensor tiles into alignment.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the flat surface comprises channels to provide a vacuum path to a vacuum source, and the method further includes holding the sensor tiles on the flat surface in an aligned position using the vacuum source after the step of aligning the plurality of sensor tiles.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of aligning the plurality of sensor tiles comprises securing the sensor tiles to a transfer mechanism using a vacuum source.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the compliant layer comprises a first surface and a second surface, the first surface of the compliant layer having a coefficient of friction greater than the second surface, and wherein the method further comprises placing the first surface of the compliant layer in contact with the substrate.

17. An apparatus comprising:
an M×N array of photosensitive tiles, wherein M and N are positive integers;
a substrate facing a bottom side of each of the sensor tiles; and
a compliant material between, the array of photosensitive tiles and the substrate, wherein the compliant material includes adhesive to secure together the substrate and the array of photosensitive tiles, a thickness of the compliant material is different between the substrate and a first one of the tiles compared to its thickness between the substrate and a second one of the tiles, and wherein top sides of the sensor tiles are aligned.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the compliant material comprises a plurality of perforations therethrough, the perforations comprise the adhesive therein, and wherein the adhesive in each perforation is in contact with the substrate and with one of the photosensitive tiles.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein alignment between adjacent tiles is controlled to a tolerance of 1/10 th (0.1) pixel or less than 10 microns.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein a deviation of the tiles from a planar shape is equal to or less than about 0.3 mm.

Assignees

• Carestream Health Inc

Inventors

• Jadrich Bradley S
• Shafer Mark E
• Tickner Edward A
• Entz Steven F
• Wojcik Timothy J

Classifications

• H10P74/203

  Structural properties, e.g. testing or measuring thicknesses, line widths, warpage, bond strengths or physical defects · CPC title

• H01L27/14663

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01T1/2018 Primary

  Scintillation-photodiode combinations · CPC title

• H01L27/1469

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10F71/00

  Manufacture or treatment of devices covered by this subclass (patterning processes to connect thin photovoltaic cells in integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, having photovoltaic cells H10F19/33; manufacture or treatment of encapsulations or containers for integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, having photovoltaic cells H10F19/80; manufacture or treatment of integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, comprising at least one element in which radiation controls the flow of current H10F39/00) · CPC title