The present invention relates to a flow sensor chip.
A sensor chip (hereinafter referred to as a flow sensor chip) in which a thin film-like portion including two temperature measuring sensors and a heater disposed therebetween is provided on a first surface of a substrate having a cavity that opens on a first surface side is known.
Various flow sensor chips having different specific configurations have been developed and proposed (see PTL 1 to PTL 3), but existing flow sensor chips have a heater (heater pattern) formed of a single material.
As described above, existing flow sensor chips have a heater formed of a single material. For this reason, the existing flow sensor chips have a problem that power is wasted when the heater is electrified.
Hereinafter, the reason why the above-described problem occurs will be described by taking a flow sensor chip having a configuration illustrated in
When a current is applied to the heater 14 of the flow sensor chip (
The present invention is contrived in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a flow sensor chip capable of preventing power from being wasted when a heater is electrified.
In order to solve the above-described problem, according to an aspect of the present invention, a thin film-like portion of a flow sensor chip, including a substrate portion which includes a cavity opening on a first surface side and the thin film-like portion which is provided on the first surface of the substrate portion, includes two thermopiles having a plurality of hot junctions that are lined up in a first direction and disposed to face each other, a heater portion disposed between the two thermopiles and extending in the first direction, a first lead portion, connected to an end of the heater portion, which is formed of a material having an electrical conductivity higher than a heater conductivity which is an electrical conductivity of a constituent material of the heater portion, a second lead portion, connected to the other end of the heater portion, which is formed of a material having an electrical conductivity higher than the heater conductivity, a first electrode pad connected, directly or through a connection portion formed of a material having an electrical conductivity equal to or greater than the heater conductivity, to an end of the first lead portion on a side which is not connected to the heater portion, and a second electrode pad connected, directly or through a connection portion formed of a material having an electrical conductivity equal to or greater than the heater conductivity, to an end of the second lead portion on a side which is not connected to the heater portion.
That is, in the flow sensor chip according to the aspect of the present invention, end sides (the first lead portion, the second lead portion) of the heater are formed of a material having an electrical conductivity higher than that of the constituent material of the heater portion which is a main portion of the heater. Thus, according to the flow sensor chip, it is possible to prevent power from being wasted during the electrification of the heater.
The constituent materials of the heater portion, the first lead portion, and the second lead portion may satisfy the above-described conditions related to an electrical conductivity. However, in order to prevent an increase in the number of manufacturing steps of the flow sensor chip, it is preferable that any one of the heater portion, the first lead portion, and the second lead portion be formed of any one of a plurality of materials constituting two thermopiles, and it is preferable that each of the heater portion, the first lead portion, and the second lead portion be formed of a material selected from among the plurality of materials constituting two thermopiles.
In a case where a shape extending in the first direction (a direction which is an arrangement direction of the hot junctions and is an extension direction of the heater portion) is adopted as each of the first lead portion and the second lead portion, it is preferable to provide two through holes interposing the first lead portion therebetween and two through holes interposing the second lead portion therebetween in a region on the cavity of the thin film-like portion when seen from above in order to make heat less likely to escape in the first direction.
Further, in order to make heat less likely to escape in the first direction, a through hole intersecting a virtual line segment obtained by extending the heater portion in the first direction may be provided in each of two portions on an outer side of both ends of the two thermopiles in the first direction on a region on the cavity of the thin film-like portion when seen from above, and each of the first lead portion and the second lead portion may have a shape that bypasses the through hole. Meanwhile, in a case where this configuration is adopted, the lead portions may have a shape that surrounds the through hole in order to equalize the amounts of heat transferred to the thermopiles side by the lead portions.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a flow sensor chip capable of preventing power from being wasted when a heater is electrified.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Meanwhile, each of the thermopiles 13 of the flow sensor chip 1 according to the present embodiment is configured such that the plurality of thermocouples 12 are connected to each other as illustrated in
The thin film-like portion 11 (
The lead portions 16 (161 and 162) are conducting paths formed of a material (to be described later in detail) having an electrical conductivity higher than an electrical conductivity (hereinafter referred to as a heater conductivity) of a constituent material of the heater portion 15. The temperature sensor 19 is a resistance temperature sensor for measuring a reference temperature used as the temperature of a cool junction 12c of each of the thermopiles 13.
The thin film-like portion 11 also includes two electrode pads 171 and 172 between which a voltage is applied when the heater portion 15 is electrified. As illustrated in
Two through holes 20 are provided with the lead portion 161 therebetween in a region on the outer side of the right ends of two thermopiles 13 in
In addition, the flow sensor chip 1 according to the present embodiment is configured such that the heater portion 15 is formed of N-type polysilicon which is one constituent material of the thermopile 13 (thermocouple 12), and the lead portions 16 are formed of Al which is the other constituent material of the thermopile 13.
A resistivity (a reciprocal of an electrical conductivity) of Al is approximately a few hundredths of a resistivity of N-type polysilicon. Thus, power consumption in the lead portions 16 of the flow sensor chip 1 is approximately a few hundredths of power consumption in a case where the constituent material is N-type polysilicon. However, a thermal conductivity of Al is approximately 10 times the thermal conductivity of N-type polysilicon. For this reason, when the cross-sectional shape of each lead portion 16 of the flow sensor chip 1 is set to have the same shape as the flow sensor chip (hereinafter referred to a sensor having a configuration of the related art) in which the entire heater is formed of N-type polysilicon, the amount of power consumption in each lead portion 16 is smaller than that of a sensor having a configuration of the related art, but heat generated by the heater portion 15 escapes to the outside more easily than the sensor having a configuration of the related art. In order to prevent such a problem from occurring, when the thermal flow sensor chip 1 is designed, the shape (mainly the width) of each lead portion 16 is determined such that the amount of heat transfer in a case where the heater portion 15 is heated due to electrification is equal to or less than a desired amount.
Even when the shape of each lead portion 16 is determined in this manner, Al has a high electrical conductivity, and thus the resistance of each lead portion 16 becomes lower than the resistance of a lead portion formed of N-type polysilicon. Thus, when the above-described configuration of the flow sensor chip 1 is adopted, it is possible to obtain a sensor in which power is not wasted when a heater (a series-connection body, such as the heater portion 15, which is provided between the electrode pads 171 and 172) is electrified.
In addition, when the configuration of the flow sensor chip 1 is adopted, the heater portion 15 can be formed at the time of forming the first electrode 121, and the lead portions 16 can be formed at the time of forming the second electrode 122. Thus, the flow sensor chip 1 can be manufactured in the same number of steps as a sensor having a configuration of the related art.
Hereinafter, an example of manufacturing steps for the flow sensor chip 1 that can be manufactured in the same number of steps as a sensor having a configuration of the related art will be described using
When the flow sensor chip 1 is manufactured, first, a SiO2 film 21 is formed on a first surface of a single crystal silicon substrate (hereinafter also referred to as a substrate 10) serving as the substrate portion 10. Next, a portion serving as an opening of the cavity 10c is removed from the SiO2 film 21 (
Next, SiO2 is deposited to cover the sacrificial layer 22. Thereafter, a SiN film 23, a SiO2 film 24, and an N-type polysilicon film are formed in that order on the SiO2 film 21 having such a thickness as to cover the sacrificial layer 22. Meanwhile, the forming of the N-type polysilicon film means that P ions are injected into a polysilicon film after forming the polysilicon film.
In addition, the first electrodes 121 of the respective thermocouples 12, the heater portion 15, and the conductive portion 18 are formed by patterning the N-type polysilicon film (
After the heater portion 15 and the like are formed, an insulating film (SiO2 film) 25 is formed, and then contact openings are formed in various portions of the insulating film 25. Next, the second electrodes 122 of the respective thermocouples 12 and the conductive portion 18 are formed of Al (
After the second electrodes 122 and the like are formed, a SiO2 film 26 and a SiN film 27 are formed. In addition, a whole electrode pad including the electrode pad 171 is formed of Au or the like. In addition, after the through holes 20 are formed, portions of the sacrificial layer 22 and the substrate 10 are removed using an etching solution such as tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), thereby forming the cavity 10c (
As described above, in the flow sensor chip 1 according to the present embodiment, the end sides (the lead portions 161 and 162) of the heater are formed of a material having an electrical conductivity higher than that of the constituent material of the heater portion 15 which is a main portion of the heater. Thus, according to the flow sensor chip 1, it is possible to prevent power from being wasted when the heater is electrified.
Meanwhile, even when the heater 14 having a shape as illustrated in
On the other hand, when the configuration of the flow sensor chip 1 mentioned above is adopted, the resistance of the lead portion 16 can be reduced in such a manner that it is not necessary to increase the width of the ends (161 and 162) of the heater, and the thermal conductivity of the ends of the heater does not increase. In addition, it is also possible to make the film thickness of the end of the heater different from the film thickness of the heater portion 15. Thus, when the configuration of the flow sensor chip 1 is adopted, it is possible to obtain a sensor that does not cause the above-described problem.
The flow sensor chip 2 is basically provided with two through holes 20a instead of four through holes 20 of the flow sensor chip 1 (see
The through holes 20a have the above-described shape (that is, a shape that intersects a virtual line segment obtained by extending a heater portion 15 in a first direction), and thus electrode pads 17 (171, 172) and the heater portion 15 cannot be connected by a linear conducting path in the flow sensor chip 2. For this reason, in the flow sensor chip 2, lead portions 16 (161, 162) including a pattern bypassing the top-side of the through hole 22 and a pattern bypassing the bottom-side of the through hole 22.
As is apparent from the above description, the thermal flow sensor chip 2 is an improved one of the flow sensor chip 1 so that heat of the heater portion 15 is less likely to escape in the right-left direction. Thus, when the configuration of the thermal flow sensor chip 2 is adopted, it can be said that the temperature of the heater portion 15 is less likely to fall than that of the flow sensor chip 1.
The above-described flow sensor chips 1 and 2 can be modified in various ways. For example, a thermopile 13 having a configuration illustrated in
In addition, as a constituent material of one or both of the thermopiles 13, materials other than the above-described materials (polysilicon, Al), for example, Au, Bi, Sb, Te, Cu, Pb, and P-type polysilicon may be used. However, from the viewpoint of thermoelectric performance and affinity with a semiconductor process, the constituent materials of the thermopiles 13 are preferably polysilicon and Al.
The heater portion 15 and/or the lead portion 16 may be formed of a material other than the constituent materials of the thermopiles 13. As illustrated in
The lead portion 16 of the flow sensor chip 2 (
It is natural that the cavity 10c of the substrate portion 10 may be opened on both surfaces of the substrate portion 10 and that the lead portions 16 may be connected directly to the electrode pads 17.
A thermal flow sensor chip (1;2) including:
a substrate portion (10) which includes a cavity (10c) opening on a first surface side; and
a thin film-like portion (11) which is provided on the first surface of the substrate portion (10),
wherein the thin film-like portion (11) includes
two thermopiles (13) having a plurality of hot junctions (12h) that are lined up in a first direction and disposed to face each other,
a heater portion (15) disposed between the two thermopiles (13) and extending in the first direction,
a first lead portion (161), connected to an end of the heater portion (15), which is formed of a material having an electrical conductivity higher than a heater conductivity which is an electrical conductivity of a constituent material of the heater portion (15),
a second lead portion (162), connected to the other end of the heater portion (15), which is formed of a material having an electrical conductivity higher than the heater conductivity,
a first electrode pad (171) connected, directly or through a connection portion (18) formed of a material having an electrical conductivity equal to or greater than the heater conductivity, to an end of the first lead portion (161) on a side which is not connected to the heater portion (15), and
a second electrode pad (172) connected, directly or through a connection portion formed of a material having an electrical conductivity equal to or greater than the heater conductivity, to an end of the second lead portion (162) on a side which is not connected to the heater portion (15).
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2019-097567 | May 2019 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2020/019136 | 5/13/2020 | WO |