System and method of integrating optics into an IC package

• US 20050212929A1
• Filed: 03/25/2005
• Published: 09/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Original Assignee: Evolution Robotics Inc. (iRobot Corporation)
• Inventors: Schell, Steve, Brown, Joe, Witman, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 7,535,071 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/230.100
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48137 the bodies being arranged next to each other, e.g. on a common substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14618 Containers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/0203 Containers; Encapsulations , e.g. encapsulation of photodiodesfor photovoltaic devices H01L31/048; for organic photosensitive devices H10K30/80
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/02164 for shielding light, e.g. light blocking layers, cold shields for infrared detectors

Abstract

An apparatus and method of integrating optics into an IC package is for detecting light from at least one light source is disclosed. The apparatus has a housing, which has a predetermined spectral transmittance. A sensor is positioned within the housing. An opaque mask is applied to the housing, where the opaque mask has a hole aligned with the sensor such that the light'"'"'s centroid is detected by the sensor. In one embodiment, the apparatus further comprises a substrate for positioning and stabilizing the sensor in the housing, an analog filter and amplification module (“AFA”) for filtering and amplifying signals from the sensor and generating a second signal, and a digital signal processor (“DSP”) for generating a coordinate system by extracting frequency components from the AFA output signal.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit (“

IC”

) package for detecting light from at least one light source, comprising;

a housing, said housing having a predetermined spectral transmittance;

a sensor, positioned within said housing;

an opaque mask, applied to said housing, said opaque mask having a hole aligned with said sensor such that said light'"'"'s centroid is detected by said sensor.

2. The IC package of claim 1, wherein said hole has a dimension of about 2 mm by 2 mm.

3. The IC package of claim 1, wherein said sensor comprises a position-sensitive detector (“

PSD”

).

4. The IC package of claim 1, wherein said sensor comprises a segmented photo diode (“

SPD”

).

5. The IC package of claim 3, wherein said opaque mask is printed onto said housing.

6. The IC package of claim 4, wherein said opaque mask is printed onto said housing.

7. The IC package of claim 1, wherein said hole is formed by an unmasked area on said housing.

8. The IC package of claim 5, wherein said hole is formed by an unmasked area on said housing.

9. The IC package of claim 1, wherein said housing is made of a transparent material with a predetermined spectral transmittance.

10. The IC package of claim 2, wherein said housing is made of a transparent material with a predetermined spectral transmittance.

11. The IC package of claim 5, wherein said housing is made of a transparent material with a predetermined spectral transmittance.

12. The IC package of claim 3, further comprising:

a substrate within said housing, said substrate being disposed to position said sensor in said housing;

an analog filter and amplification module (“

AFA”

) mounted on said substrate, said AFA being disposed to filter and amplify signals from said sensor and generate an output signal;

a digital signal processor (“

DSP”

) mounted on said substrate, said DSP being adapted to generate a coordinate system by extracting frequency components from said output signal from said AFA.

13. The IC package of claim 4, further comprising:

a substrate within said housing, said substrate being disposed to position said sensor in said housing;

an analog filter and amplification module (“

AFA”

) mounted on said substrate, said AFA being disposed to filter and amplify signals from said sensor and generate an output signal;

a digital signal processor (“

DSP”

) mounted on said substrate, said DSP being adapted to generate a coordinate system by extracting frequency components from said output signal from said AFA.

14. The IC package of claim 12, said AFA further comprises:

a transimpedance amplifier (“

TIA”

), being disposed to amplify signals from said sensor and remove DC components from said signals to generate its output;

a first passive high-pass filter (“

1^st PHP”

), said 1^st PHP being disposed to remove DC bias from the output of said TIA and generate its output;

a passive notch filter (“

PNF”

), disposed to remove noise signals between predetermined ranges of frequencies from the output of said 1^st PHP and generate its output;

a second passive high-pass filter (“

2^nd PHP”

), being disposed to remove DC bias from the output of said PNF and generate its output;

a gain amplifier, coupled to said 2^nd PHP, being disposed to amplify the output from said 2 PHP and generate its output;

a passive low-pass filter (“

PLP”

), being disposed to remove signals above a predetermined frequency from the output of said gain amplifier and generate its output.

15. The IC package of claim 14, wherein said DSP extracts said frequency components by using one of the following filters:

Goertzel, FFT, DFT, FIR and IIR.

16. A multi-chip module (“

MCM”

) for detecting at least one light source, comprising;

an integrated package that is essentially transparent relative to the wavelength of said light source;

a substrate mounted within said n integrated package;

a sensor, mounted on said substrate within said n integrated package;

an opaque mask, coupled to said integrated package, said opaque mask having an aperture formed thereon, said aperture being sized and aligned with said sensor such that an optical path is formed from said light source to said sensor through said opaque mask.

17. The MCM of claim 16, wherein said aperture has a dimension of about 2 mm by 2 mm.

18. The MCM of claim 16, wherein said sensor is a position-sensitive detector (“

PSD”

).

19. The MCM of claim 16, wherein said sensor is a segmented photo-diode (“

SPD”

).

20. The MCM of claim 16, wherein said integrated package is formed by a resin that is essentially transparent to the wavelength of interest, and has a predetermined spectral transmittance profile.

21. The MCM of claim 18, wherein said integrated package is formed by a resin that is essentially transparent to the wavelength of interest, and has a predetermined spectral transmittance profile.

22. The MCM of claim 19, wherein said integrated package is formed by a resin that is essentially transparent to the wavelength of interest, and has a predetermined spectral transmittance profile.

23. The MCM of claim 16, wherein said aperture is formed by an area on said opaque mask that is transparent to said light source.

24. The MCM of claim 21, wherein said aperture is formed by an area on said opaque mask that is transparent to said light source.

25. The MCM of claim 16, wherein said integrated package is made of a transparent material with a predetermined spectral transmittance.

26. The MCM of claim 18, wherein said integrated package is made of a transparent material with a predetermined spectral transmittance.

27. The MCM of claim 21, wherein said integrated package is made of a transparent material with a predetermined spectral transmittance.

28. The MCM of claim 16, further comprising:

an analog filter and amplification module (“

AFA”

) coupled to said integrated package, said AFA being disposed to filter and amplify signals from said sensor and generate a second signal;

a digital signal processor (“

DSP”

) coupled to said integrated package and said AFA, said DSP being adapted to generate a coordinate system by extracting frequency components from said second signal.

29. The MCM of claim 28, said AFA further comprises:

a transimpedance amplifier (“

TIA”

), being disposed to amplify signals from said sensor and remove DC components from the sensor signals to generate its output;

a first passive high-pass filter (“

1^st PHP”

), said 1^st PHP being disposed to remove DC bias from the output of said TIA and generate its output;

a passive notch filter (“

PNF”

), disposed to remove noise signals between predetermined ranges of frequencies from the output of said 1^st PHP and generate its output;

a second passive high-pass filter (“

2^nd PHP”

), being disposed to remove DC bias from the output of said PNF and generate its output;

a gain amplifier, coupled to said 2^nd PHP, being disposed to amplify the output from said 2^nd PHP and generate its output;

a passive low-pass filter (“

PLP”

), being disposed to remove signals above a predetermined frequency from the output of said gain amplifier and generate its output.

30. The MCM of claim 28, wherein said DSP extracts said frequency components by using one of following filters:

Goertzel algorithm, FFT, DFT, FIR and IIR.

31. A method of integrating optics into an integrated circuit package for detecting at least one light source, comprising:

providing a substrate;

mounting an image sensor on said substrate;

enclosing said image sensor within a transparent housing, said transparent housing having a predetermined spectral transmittance;

applying an opaque mask to said transparent housing, said opaque mask having a transparent aperture, said aperture being aligned with said sensor such that an optical path is formed from said light source through said aperture to said image sensor.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein said image sensor is a position-sensitive detector (“

PSD”

).

33. The method of claim 31, wherein said image sensor is a segmented photo diode (“

SPD”

).

34. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

mounting an analog filter and amplifier module (“

AFA”

) on said substrate;

mounting a digital signal processor module (“

DSP”

) on said substrate;

interconnecting said image sensor, said AFA and said DSP;

encapsulating said image sensor, said AFA and said DSP into a multi-chip module package using said transparent housing.

35. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

mounting an analog filter and amplifier module (“

AFA”

) on said substrate;

mounting a digital signal processor module (“

DSP”

) on said substrate;

interconnecting said image sensor, said AFA and said DSP;

encapsulating said image sensor, said AFA and said DSP into a multi-chip module package using said transparent housing.

36. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

mounting an analog filter and amplifier module (“

AFA”

) on said substrate;

mounting a digital signal processor module (“

DSP”

) on said substrate;

interconnecting said image sensor, said AFA and said DSP;

encapsulating said image sensor, said AFA and said DSP into a multi-chip module package using said transparent housing.