Patent Application
20240250099
The present disclosure relates to electronics and, more specifically, relates to an image sensor assembly including a flexible substrate having one or more rigid layers disposed over one or more surfaces of the flexible substrate.
Flexible printed circuits (FPCs) can be used in a wide range of vehicle applications for mounting sensors, such as image sensors, rain sensors, proximity sensors, light sensors, etc., used to assist operation of a vehicle. The sensor(s) can be secured to the FPCs with electrically conductive solder. The FPCs can be connected to other FPCs, motherboards, or other components by fasteners, adhesive, and/or compression between enclosure components.
Specially designed reflow solder pallets may be required when manufacturing FPCs, which can increase manufacturing costs. Additionally, some FPCs incorporate zero-insertion connectors (ZIFs), which can provide a difficult testing environment as compared to FPCs that incorporate relatively larger testing points.
An image sensor assembly is disclosed herein that can include a flexible substrate having a top surface and a bottom surface. The flexible substrate includes a body portion, an outer portion, and an elongated portion that extends from the body portion. The image sensor assembly also includes at least one rigid layer disposed over at least a portion of one of the top surface or the bottom surface of the body portion of the flexible substrate. The image sensor assembly also includes a rigid metallic structure disposed on the bottom surface of the body portion.
In another exemplary arrangement, the image sensor assembly includes an image sensor disposed on the top surface of the body portion.
In another exemplary arrangement, the rigid metallic structure is mounted to the bottom surface of the body portion such that the rigid metallic structure overlaps with the image sensor.
In another exemplary arrangement, the rigid metallic structure is mounted to the bottom surface of the body portion such that the rigid metallic structure overlaps with the image sensor.
In another exemplary arrangement, the at least one rigid layer comprises a glass-reinforced epoxy laminate material.
In another exemplary arrangement, the at least one rigid layer is mounted directly to the at least one of the top surface or the bottom surface.
In another exemplary arrangement, the image sensor assembly includes a connector mounted to an end section of the elongated portion spaced from the body portion.
In another exemplary arrangement, the connector comprises at least one of a surface-mounted board-to-board (BTB) connector or a zero-insertion force (ZIF) interface.
In another exemplary arrangement, the rigid metallic structure comprises a metal rigidizer.
In another exemplary arrangement, the outer portion of the flexible substrate is sandwiched between a first rigid layer and a second rigid layer.
An image sensor assembly can include a flexible substrate having a top surface and a bottom surface. The flexible substrate includes a body portion, an outer portion, and an elongated portion that extends between the body portion and the outer portion. An image sensor can be disposed on the top surface of the body portion. The image sensor assembly also includes at least one rigid layer disposed over at least one of the top surface or the bottom surface of the body portion of the flexible substrate. The image sensor assembly also includes a rigid metallic structure disposed over the bottom surface of the body portion.
In another exemplary arrangement, the image sensor assembly includes an image sensor disposed over the top surface of the body portion.
In another exemplary arrangement, the rigid metallic structure is mounted to the bottom surface of the body portion such that the rigid metallic structure overlaps with the image sensor.
In another exemplary arrangement, the rigid metallic structure is mounted to the bottom surface of the body portion such that the rigid metallic structure overlaps with the image sensor.
In another exemplary arrangement, the at least one rigid layer comprises a glass-reinforced epoxy laminate material.
In another exemplary arrangement, the at least one rigid layer is mounted directly to the at least one of the top surface or the bottom surface.
In another exemplary arrangement, the image sensor assembly includes a connector mounted to an end section of the elongated portion spaced from the body portion.
In another exemplary arrangement, the connector comprises at least one of a surface-mounted board-to-board (BTB) connector or a zero-insertion force (ZIF) interface.
In another exemplary arrangement, the rigid metallic structure comprises a metal rigidizer.
In another exemplary arrangement, the outer portion of the flexible substrate is sandwiched between a first rigid layer and a second rigid layer.
In another exemplary arrangement, the top surface of the body portion is absent the at least one rigid layer.
In another exemplary arrangement, the image sensor assembly includes a plurality of testing points.
In another exemplary arrangement, the plurality of testing points each comprise an electrically conductive pad.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.
The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses.
The present disclosure describes one or more exemplary arrangements of an image sensor assembly that includes a flexible substrate, such as a flexible printed circuit board. The image sensor assembly can eliminate the requirement for specially designed reflow solder pallets by incorporating the use of rigid layers. Additionally, the image sensor assembly, in some exemplary arrangements, can use surface-mounted board-to-board (BTB) connector that allow for the use of test points for focusing and calibration.
An image sensor can be mounted on the flexible substrate. In various exemplary arrangements, the image sensor assembly can include various rigid layers and/or a rigid metallic structure to mitigate potential damage to one or more components of the image sensor assembly, as discussed in greater detail herein.
In exemplary arrangements, the top and bottom layers 105, 107 of the base member 110 are constructed to be rigid. For example, in one exemplary arrangement, the top and bottom layers 105, 107 comprise a glass-reinforced epoxy laminate material mounted directly to the top and/or the bottom surface of the flexible substrate 108. In various exemplary arrangements, the rigid layers 105, 107 comprises an FR-4 glass epoxy material.
As shown in
In an exemplary arrangement, the flexible substrate 108 comprises a flexible printed circuit board 109. The flexible printed circuit board 109 can comprise a polyimide laminate material in one or more exemplary arrangements.
In one exemplary arrangement, as generally shown in
The elongated portion 128 and the end section 132 are each defined by peripheral edges 133 and 135 that are spaced inbound from inner peripheral edges 125 and 127 of the top and bottom layers 105 and 107 so as to create the opening 106 therebetween.
As shown in
The image sensor 104 can sense and/or capture an image and provide one or more electrical signals to a control system of a vehicle safety system representing the image.
Referring to
In an exemplary arrangement, the rigid metallic structure 140 comprises a metal rigidizer that is bonded to the polyimide laminate material using a suitable bonding material. The rigid metallic structure 140 can serve to provide thermal management to the image sensor assembly 100. For instance, the rigid metallic structure 140 can function as a heat sink such that heat is transferred from the image sensor 104 and/or the body portion 116 to the rigid metallic structure 140. In various exemplary arrangements, the rigid metallic structure 140 can be mounted to a bottom surface of the body portion 116 such that the rigid metallic structure 140 overlaps with the image sensor 104. It is understood that the bottom surface comprises the surface opposite the surface for which the image sensor 104 is mounted.
A bottom surface of the bottom layer 124 of the end section 132 may include one or more testing points 144. In an exemplary arrangement, the testing points 144 comprise exposed electrically conductive pads, such as copper or the like. Probes or other suitable electronic testing equipment can be connected to the testing points 144 to inject test signals and/or monitor a state of the image sensor assembly 100 during manufacturing.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown, the rigid metallic structure 304 and the rigid layer 804 are adjacent to one another. All remaining elements of the image sensor arrangement 800 is as shown in the exemplary arrangement 100 depicted in
Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many implementations and applications other than the examples provided would be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the above description. The scope of the disclosure should be determined, not with reference to the above description, but should instead be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is anticipated and intended that future developments will occur in the arts discussed herein, and that the disclosed systems and methods will be incorporated into such future implementations. In sum, it should be understood that the invention is capable of modification and variation and is limited only by the following claims.
All terms used in the claims are intended to be given their plain and ordinary meanings as understood by those skilled in the art unless an explicit indication to the contrary is made herein. In particular, use of the singular articles such as “a,” “the,” “said,” etc. should be read to recite one or more of the indicated elements unless a claim recites an explicit limitation to the contrary.
