Physical quantity sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9851233-B2
Application number	US-201314652487-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 15, 2013
Priority date	Dec 17, 2012
Publication date	Dec 26, 2017
Grant date	Dec 26, 2017

Abstract

A thermal type sensor molded from a mold resin having an opening has a problem in that the residual stress of the mold resin in the opening causes peeling at the interface having poor adhesion. A physical quantity sensor has a construction having a semiconductor chip having a detector unit 3 , a frame 8 a on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, a mold resin portion 10 which encapsulates the semiconductor chip and the frame and has an opening through which the detector unit is exposed to the outside, and a stress absorbing layer 6 which is formed between an end of the opening in the mold resin portion and a wiring layer formed in the detector unit, and which is formed from a metal material that absorbs a stress from the end.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A physical quantity sensor, characterized by having:
a semiconductor chip having a detector unit,
a frame on which the semiconductor chip is mounted,
a mold resin portion which encapsulates the semiconductor chip and the frame and has an opening through which the detector unit is exposed to outside of the physical quantity sensor, and
a stress absorbing layer being formed between ends of the opening in the mold resin portion and above a wiring layer formed in the detector unit, and the stress absorbing layer contains a metal material which absorbs a stress from the ends of the opening,
wherein a first portion of the stress absorbing layer protrudes beyond a first edge of the opening to be exposed from the mold resin portion and inside of an edge of the semiconductor chip, and a second portion of the stress absorbing layer protrudes beyond a second edge of the opening to be exposed from the mold resin portion and above only a central portion of the wiring layer, and
wherein the detector unit has a diaphragm, and a width of an upper end of the diaphragm is smaller than a distance between the first and second portions of the stress absorbing layer.

2. The physical quantity sensor according to claim 1 , characterized in that the metal material is a material having a Young's modulus smaller than that of the wiring layer.

3. The physical quantity sensor according to claim 2 , characterized in that the metal material is any one of elements included in a metal group consisting of aluminum, copper, gold, nickel, platinum, and silver, an alloy containing any one of elements included in the metal group, or a compound of any one of elements included in the metal group and silicon.

4. The physical quantity sensor according to claim 1 , characterized in that the stress absorbing layer has a stacked structure having a metal film formed from the metal material, and at least one of a titanium nitride film, a titanium tungsten film, and a titanium film.

5. The physical quantity sensor according to claim 1 , characterized in that, in the plane parallel to a substrate surface of the semiconductor chip, the stress absorbing layer is formed outside the outer periphery of the diaphragm.

6. The physical quantity sensor according to claim 1 , characterized in that the stress absorbing layer is grounded.

7. The physical quantity sensor according to claim 1 , characterized by further having a cover layer which is formed between the mold resin portion and the stress absorbing layer, and formed from an insulating film.

8. The physical quantity sensor according to claim 7 , characterized in that the cover layer is a silicon oxide film, a silicon nitride film, an aluminum nitride film, a silicon carbide film, or a stacked film thereof.

9. The physical quantity sensor according to claim 7 , characterized in that the cover layer is formed at a position excluding the upper end of the diaphragm.

10. The physical quantity sensor according to claim 7 , characterized by further having a protective film which covers a region of the stress absorbing layer that is not covered with the cover layer, and is formed from an insulating film.

11. The physical quantity sensor according to claim 10 , characterized in that, in the plane parallel to a substrate surface of the semiconductor chip, the protective film is positioned inside the opening.

12. The physical quantity sensor according to claim 1 , characterized in that the physical quantity sensor is a thermal type fluid flow sensor,
the detector unit contains a heating resistance element and a temperature-sensing resistance element, and
the wiring layer is a layer constituting the heating resistance element or the temperature-sensing resistance element.

Assignees

• Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd

Inventors

• Sakuma Noriyuki

Classifications

• H10W90/756

  between a chip and a stacked lead frame, conducting package substrate or heat sink · CPC title

• H10W90/736

  between a chip and a stacked lead frame, conducting package substrate or heat sink · CPC title

• H10W74/10

  characterised by their shape or disposition · CPC title

• H10W72/884

  Die-attach connectors and bond wires · CPC title

• H10W42/121

  protecting against mechanical damage (H10W76/00, H10W74/00 take precedence) · CPC title