Inductor element

• US 6,922,126 B1
• Filed: 05/18/1999
• Issued: 07/26/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Niigata Seimitsu Co., Ltd. (Tetsuo Funai)
• Inventors: Okamoto, Akira, Ikeda, Takeshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tuyen T
• Application Number:
  US09/980,959
• Time in Patent Office: 2,261 Days
• Field of Search: 336/65, 336/83, 336 90- 96, 336/192, 336/200, 336206-208, 336/232
• US Class Current: 336/200
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 17/0006 Printed inductances printed coils for dynamo-electric machines H02K3/26; printed circuits H05K
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 17/0013 with stacked layers
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 2017/0046 with a conductive path having a bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 2017/008 Electric or magnetic shielding of printed inductances
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 27/34 Special means for preventing or reducing unwanted electric or magnetic effects, e.g. no-load losses, reactive currents, harmonics, oscillations, leakage fields
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/08 including only semiconductor components of a single kind

Abstract

An inductor element 10 effectively functions even when formed on a substrate and comprises two upper and lower conductors 1, 2 spirally formed on the front side of a semiconductor substrate 3. The conductors 1, 2 have substantially the same shape. When viewed from the above of the front side of the substrate 3, the two conductors 1, 2 are superposed one on the other almost exactly. Lead wires 6a, 6b are connected to the outer end (outer peripheral end) and the inner end (center end) of the conductor 1, respectively. The outer end of the conductor 1 is connected to the inner end of the conductor 2 through a connection wire 6c. The conductor 1 functions as an inductor conductor and is connected to a circuit provided on the semiconductor substrate 3 through the lead wires 6a, 6b.

Claims

1. An inductor element, characterized in that said element comprises two conductors on a substrate, said conductors having respective inner and outer ends, a first conductor being positioned above the other conductor relative to the substrate, the first conductor being insulated from the other conductor, and the outer end of the first conductor is connected with the inner end of the other conductor, wherein the first conductor is an upper layer relative to the substrate and is used as an inductor conductor,

wherein the other conductor is nearest the substrate and has an end that is open.

2. The inductor element according to claim 1, characterized in that said two conductors have substantially the same shape.

3. The inductor element according to claim 1, characterized in that said two conductors a have a first dimension being longer than a second dimension defining long shapes, and one end of one conductor in a longitudinal direction is connected with one end of the other in the longitudinal direction.

4. The inductor element according to claim 1, characterized in that said two conductors have circular shapes less than one turn.

5. The inductor element according to claim 1, characterized in that said two conductors have spiral shapes each number of turns of which is one or more.

6. The inductor element according to claim 1, characterized in that the two conductors are formed in meander shapes.

7. The inductor element according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising:

an inductance component of the conductor that is an upper layer; and

a capacitance component between the two conductors.

8. The inductor element according to claim 1, characterized in that said substrate is a semiconductor substrate.

9. The inductor element according to claim 5, characterized in that said two conductors have the same number of turns in the spiral shapes.

10. The inductor element according to claim 5, characterized in that one of said two conductors has a different number of turns in the spiral shapes relative the other conductor.

11. An inductor element, characterized in that said element comprises two conductors on a substrate, said conductors having respective inner and outer ends, a first conductor being positioned above the other conductor relative to the substrate, the first conductor being insulated from the other conductor, and the outer end of the first conductor is connected with the outer end of the other conductor via a connection wire, in absence of an active circuit element, wherein the first conductor is an upper layer relative to the substrate and is used as an inductor conductor the other conductor has an unconnected end.