Spacer Wafer For Wafer-Level Camera And Method Of Manufacturing Same

• US 20130122261A1
• Filed: 11/15/2011
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Omnivision Technologies Incorporated (Will Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Shanghai)
• Original Assignee: Omnivision Technologies Incorporated (Will Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Shanghai)
• Inventors: Barnes, George, Rauker, Goran
• Granted Patent: US 8,826,511 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 428/172
• CPC Class Codes: B29D 11/00307 Producing lens wafers
• CPC Class Codes: B29D 11/00432 Auxiliary operations, e.g. machines for filling the moulds B29D11/00125 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 Products made by additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14683 Processes or apparatus peculiar to the manufacture or treatment of these devices or parts thereof not peculiar thereto H01L21/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4998 Combined manufacture including applying or shaping of fluent material
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24612 Composite web or sheet

Abstract

A spacer wafer for a wafer-level camera and a method of manufacturing the spacer wafer include positioning a substrate in an additive manufacturing device and forming the spacer wafer over the substrate. The spacer wafer is formed by an additive manufacturing process.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a spacer wafer for a wafer-level camera, comprising:

positioning a substrate in an additive manufacturing device; and

forming the spacer wafer for the wafer-level camera over the substrate by an additive manufacturing process.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the additive manufacturing process comprises at least one of direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), selective laser sintering (SLS), fused deposition modeling (FDM), stereolithography (SLA), and three-dimensional (3D) printing.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the substrate is a sacrificial layer; and

the method further comprises, after forming the spacer wafer over the sacrificial layer, removing the sacrificial layer.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the sacrificial layer comprises polystyrene.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the sacrificial layer comprises wax.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a thickness of the spacer wafer is less than 300 μ

m.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the spacer wafer has a plurality of thicknesses.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising machining the spacer wafer such that the spacer wafer has at least one desired thickness.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming at least one element in the substrate before forming the spacer wafer.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one element comprises a lens.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate is formed of glass.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising diamond turning the spacer wafer.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the spacer wafer is formed over a first surface of the substrate; and

the method further comprises forming a second spacer wafer over a second surface of the substrate, such that first and second spacer wafers are formed over the first and second surfaces, respectively, of the substrate.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the additive manufacturing process comprises forming layer upon layer, one layer at a time.

15. A wafer-level camera subsystem, manufactured according to a method which includes the following steps:

positioning a substrate in an additive manufacturing device; and

forming a spacer wafer for the wafer-level camera over the substrate by an additive manufacturing process.

16. The wafer-level camera subsystem of claim 15, wherein the additive manufacturing process comprises at least one of direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), selective laser sintering (SLS), fused deposition modeling (FDM), stereolithography (SLA), and three-dimensional (3D) printing.

17. The wafer-level camera subsystem of claim 15, wherein:

the substrate is a sacrificial layer; and

the method further comprises, after forming the spacer wafer over the sacrificial layer, removing the sacrificial layer.

18. The wafer-level camera subsystem of claim 17, wherein the sacrificial layer comprises polystyrene.

19. The wafer-level camera subsystem of claim 17, wherein the sacrificial layer comprises wax.

20. The wafer-level camera subsystem of claim 15, wherein a thickness of the spacer wafer is less than 300 μ

m.

21. The wafer-level camera subsystem of claim 15, wherein the spacer wafer has a plurality of thicknesses.

22. The wafer-level camera subsystem of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises machining the spacer wafer such that the spacer wafer has at least one desired thickness.

23. The wafer-level camera subsystem of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises forming at least one element in the substrate before forming the spacer wafer.

24. The wafer-level camera subsystem of claim 23, wherein the at least one element comprises a lens.

25. The wafer-level camera subsystem of claim 15, wherein the substrate is formed of glass.

26. The wafer-level camera subsystem of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises diamond turning the spacer wafer.

27. The wafer-level camera subsystem of claim 15, wherein:

the spacer wafer is formed over a first surface of the substrate; and

the method further comprises forming a second spacer wafer over a second surface of the substrate, such that first and second spacer wafers are formed over the first and second surfaces, respectively, of the substrate.

28. The wafer-level camera subsystem of claim 15, wherein the additive manufacturing process comprises farming layer upon layer, one layer at a time.