Methods of fabricating a large area transducer array

• US 7,867,824 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2008
• Issued: 01/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Burdick, William Edward Jr., Rose, James Wilson, Fisher, Rayette Ann
• Primary Examiner(s): Toledo; Fernando L
• Application Number:
  US12/117,608
• Publication Number:
  US 20080213933A1
• Time in Patent Office: 978 Days
• Field of Search: 257/685, 257/686, 257/E25.013, 257/E25.021, 257/E25.027, 257/E23.085, 257/E21.614, 257/E25.018, 438 14- 19, 438/109
• US Class Current: 438/109
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14601 Structural or functional details thereof

Abstract

Methods of fabricating a tiled transducer array are disclosed. Embodiments of the methods include fabricating a wafer comprising a plurality of transducers, dicing the wafer to form individual transducers, testing the individual transducers to identify a plurality of known good transducers, preparing a substrate having a front side and a backside wherein the backside of the substrate comprises a plurality of connectors, positioning the plurality of known good transducers on the front side of the substrate and aligning the plurality of transducers in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction to form a transducer array, and electrically coupling the connectors on the substrate to the plurality of known good transducers, wherein the connectors are arranged such that each of the plurality of known good transducers may be electrically coupled to an electronic device disposed on the backside of the substrate, through a respective one or more of the plurality of connectors.

Claims

1. A method for fabricating a tiled transducer array, the method comprising:

fabricating a wafer comprising a plurality of transducers;

dicing the wafer to form individual transducers;

testing the individual transducers to identify a plurality of known good transducers;

preparing a substrate having a front side and a backside, wherein the backside of the substrate comprises a plurality of connectors;

positioning the plurality of known good transducers on the front side of the substrate and aligning the plurality of transducers in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction to form a transducer array; and

electrically coupling the connectors on the substrate to the plurality of known good transducers, wherein the connectors are arranged such that each of the plurality of known good transducers may be electrically coupled to an electronic device disposed on the backside of the substrate, through a respective one or more of the plurality of connectors.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising connecting the electronic device to the plurality of know good transducers via the connectors.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises a semiconductor material.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises a flexible material.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein positioning the plurality of known good transducers on the front side of the substrate and aligning the plurality of transducers in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction to form the transducer array comprises aligning the transducers in the horizontal direction with a spacer.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising aligning the transducers with the electronic device by realigning the spacers with the electronic device after connecting the electronic device to the plurality of known good transducers.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising coupling a support layer configured to dampen acoustic reflections to the substrate.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a transducer in the plurality of transducers comprises a light sensor.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a transducer in the plurality of transducers comprises a heat sensor.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a transducer in the plurality of transducers comprises an acoustic sensor.

11. A method for fabricating a stacked three-dimensional transducer array, the method comprising:

obtaining a substrate having a front side, a backside, and an electrical interconnect providing an electrical path from the front side of the substrate to the backside of the substrate;

disposing a plurality of transducers on the front side of the substrate; and

coupling the plurality of transducers on the front side of the substrate to an associated electronic device on the backside of the substrate through the electrical interconnect.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising positioning an interposer between the plurality of transducers and the electronic device.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the stacked transducer array is a three-dimensional array.

14. A method of aligning a plurality of electronic devices with a plurality of transducers in a transducer array disposed generally in an X-Y plane, the method comprising:

positioning each of a plurality of electronic devices so they are aligned in a direction;

aligning each of the plurality of transducers with at least one of the plurality of electronic devices via a pre-fabricated spacer; and

coupling each of the plurality of electronic devices to the transducer array via an interconnect.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein positioning comprises stacking the electronic devices in the direction.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the direction is the Z-direction.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising realigning the pre- fabricated spacers to adjust gaps between each of the plurality of transducers and the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising coupling the plurality of electronic devices and the plurality of transducers to a non-destructive testing system.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising coupling the plurality of electronic devices and the plurality of transducers to an imaging system.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the imaging system comprises an x-ray imaging system.