Method and apparatus for pressure sensing
First Claim
1. A method of making an integrated texture sensor comprising the steps of:
- forming a plurality of row lines and a plurality of column lines on a substrate, each of the row lines and column lines insulated from each other, the row lines and column lines intersecting to form a switch area between adjacent row lines and adjacent column lines;
forming a lower electrode in each of a plurality of switch areas;
forming a sacrificial area directly over each lower electrode and a non-sacrificial layer around each sacrificial area;
forming an upper electrode in each of the plurality of switch areas disposed above the respective sacrificial area;
forming a support over each upper electrode; and
removing the sacrificial layer to obtain a void region between each respective upper and lower electrode.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a pressure based fingerprint image capture device that includes an array of cantilevers or simply suspended bridges, with each pressure based sensor having a cantilever or a simply suspended bridge in contact with a conducting electrode that deforms under the load applied by the localized ridge on the fingerprint, and which provides contact to another conducting electrode thereby closing the electrical circuit, a switch in the simplest form, and providing a “pulse” response from the sensor. In the quiescent state, each cantilever or simply suspended bridge structure contains an upper electrode which forms one part of the switch, while another conducting layer, the lower electrode at the bottom of the well of the individual sensor, forms the other part of the switch.
25 Citations
5 Claims
-
1. A method of making an integrated texture sensor comprising the steps of:
-
forming a plurality of row lines and a plurality of column lines on a substrate, each of the row lines and column lines insulated from each other, the row lines and column lines intersecting to form a switch area between adjacent row lines and adjacent column lines;
forming a lower electrode in each of a plurality of switch areas;
forming a sacrificial area directly over each lower electrode and a non-sacrificial layer around each sacrificial area;
forming an upper electrode in each of the plurality of switch areas disposed above the respective sacrificial area;
forming a support over each upper electrode; and
removing the sacrificial layer to obtain a void region between each respective upper and lower electrode. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
the step of forming the support forms a cantilever beam over each upper electrode.
-
Specification
-
- Resources
-
Current AssigneeLenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
-
Original AssigneeFidelica Microsystems, Inc. (Petters Group Worldwide LLC)
-
InventorsHovey, Steven H., Ganapathi, Srinavasan K., Prakash, Shiva, Gluck, Randolph S.
-
Primary Examiner(s)Lefkowitz, Edward
-
Assistant Examiner(s)DAVIS, OCTAVIA L
-
Application NumberUS10/146,417Publication NumberTime in Patent Office945 DaysField of Search738/620.46, 738/626.26, 382/124, 382/125, 382/312, 324/658, 324/662US Class Current73/862.046CPC Class CodesG06V 40/1306 non-optical, e.g. ultrasoni...G06V 40/1329 Protecting the fingerprint ...H01H 1/0036 Switches making use of micr...H01H 67/22 Switches without multi-posi...Y10T 29/49004 including measuring or test...
