Patent Application
20050218492
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-106772, filed Mar. 31, 2004, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to an optical semiconductor device having a structure that a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element are arranged facing to each other and a method for manufacturing it.
An optical semiconductor device such as a photocoupler or a photo relay is generally provided with a light-emitting element such as a light-emitting diode, a light-receiving element such as an optical electromotive diode, for example, and a driving MOSFET mounted on lead frames respectively, wherein the light-emitting element and the light-receiving element are arranged facing to each other and are sealed in a resin mold (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Application 2003-8050).
This photo relay is formed as described below. Firstly, as shown in
Next, the light-emitting element 103, the light-receiving element 105 and the MOSFET 106 are primarily sealed by the light-transmitting resin 107 to form a light transfer path, as shown in
In recent years, miniaturization of optical semiconductor devices has been strongly required in correspondence to realization of high performance of a semiconductor device and improvement of assembly density. However, since the light-emitting element 103 and the MOSFET 106 are arranged side by side on the lead frame 101b, as mentioned above, miniaturization of the package is difficult for such structure of the optical semiconductor devices.
Further, a method for manufacturing the devices is required to include a step of arranging the lead frames so that the light-emitting element and the light-receiving element are facing to each other, and a step of sealing them with retaining them in the situation described above. Thus it is difficult in the conventional manufacturing steps to shorten the lead time and to cut-down the manufacturing cost by reduction of the number of steps.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an optical semiconductor device, which includes;
a first set of lead frames having a first set of element mounting beds,
a second set of lead frames having a second set of element mounting beds, the second set of element mounting beds being arranged substantially on a same plane as the first set of element mounting beds,
a light-emitting element mounted on one of the first set of element mounting beds and having a pair of electrodes connected to the first set of lead frames respectively,
a light-receiving element supported by a supporting member mounted on the second set of element mounting beds for supporting the light-receiving element at a position facing to the light-emitting element and for receiving a light emitted from the light-emitting element, and
a supporting means mounted on the second set of element mounting beds for supporting the light-receiving element at the position facing to the light-emitting element and for receiving a light emitted from the light-emitting element.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing an optical semiconductor device, which includes steps of;
arranging a first set of lead frames having a first set of element mounting beds,
arranging a second set of lead frames having a second set of element mounting beds, which is arranged substantially on a same plane as the first set of element mounting beds,
mounting a light-emitting element on the first set of element mounting beds and connecting it to the first set of lead frames,
mounting a supporting means for supporting a light-receiving element on the second set of element mounting beds,
mounting the light-receiving element on the supporting member, so that the light-receiving element faces to the light-emitting element, and
connecting the light-receiving element to the second set of lead frames through the supporting member.
The embodiments of the present invention will be explained hereunder with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The light-emitting element 3, the light-receiving element 5 and the pair of MOSFET pellets 6, 6′ are sealed by light-transmitting resin 7 for primary sealing, so that the light-emitting element 3 and the light-receiving element 5 may be fixed to each other and a light transfer path may be formed between them. Further, secondary sealing is applied to cover the light-emitting element 3, the light-receiving element 5, the pair of MOSFET pellets 6, 6′ and the primary sealing resin 7 with light-blocking resin 8.
In the optical semiconductor device, an external electric signal is supplied through the first set of lead frames 1a, 1a′ to the light-emitting element 3 to emits a light signal. The light signal is transmitted to the light-receiving element 5 via the primary sealing resin 7. Then, the light signal is received by the light-receiving element 5 and is converted into an electric signal. The electric signal is then outputted through the MOSFET circuits of the pair of pellets 6, 6′. to the second set of lead frames 1b, 1b′.
A method for assembling the optical semiconductor device is described below. Firstly, as shown in the cross sectional view in
Next, as shown in
According to the embodiment described, the package size of the optical semiconductor device can be miniaturized, since the light-receiving element and the MOSFET pellets can be arranged three-dimensionally instead of conventional two-dimensional arrangement.
According to the embodiment of the present invention, the method for manufacturing the optical semiconductor device eliminate the conventional step of retaining the first and second set of lead frames to face each other for primary sealing, since the light-emitting element and the light-receiving element are mounted on the first and second element mounting bed 2a and 2b, 2b′, which form a part of the first and second set of lead frames, are arranged on the same plane. Thus the number of manufacturing steps can be reduced. Due to the three dimensional structure, height of the optical semiconductor device can be controlled easily. Furthermore, displacement of elements in the plain formed by the first and second set of lead frames 1a, 1a′ and 1b, 1b′ can be avoided by using the first and second set of lead frames united with each other, and thus variations in the characteristics of the optical semiconductor device can be avoided.
As in the case of the embodiment 1, the light-emitting element 13 and the light-receiving element 15 are sealed by a light-transmitting resin 17 for primary sealing, as well as the MOSFET pellet 16 and the conductive dummy pellets 19, 19′ to combine them and to form a light transfer path. Thereafter, the elements combined by the primary sealing resin 17 are sealed with a light-blocking resin 18 for secondary sealing.
In the optical semiconductor device, as in the case of the embodiment 1, an external electric signal is supplied to the light-emitting element 13 through the first set of lead frames and the light-emitting element 13 emits light signal. Then, the light signal is transmitted to the light-receiving element 15 via the primary sealing resin 17. Then the electric signal is converted by the light-receiving element 15 and is supplied to the first set of lead frames via the MOSFET 16.
A method for assembling the optical semiconductor device is described below. Firstly, as shown in
Here, the third set of lead frames 11c, 11c′ has a third set of element mounting beds 12c, 12c′ extending between the first set of beds 12a, 12a′ and the second set of beds 12b, 12b′.
The light-emitting element 13 is mounted on and connected to the bed 12a of the lead frame 11a in the first set of lead frames 11a, 11a′. The MOSFET pellet 16 is mounted on and connected to the beds 12b, 12b′ of the second set of lead frames 11b in the second set of lead frames 11b, 11b′. A part of the MOSFET 16 is supported by the third set of element mounting beds 12c, 12c′ of the third set of lead frames 11c, 11c′.
A part of the light-receiving element 15 is supported by a pair of conductive dummy pellets 19, 19′, which are mounted on a third set of element mounting beds 12c, 12c′ extending between the first set of beds 12a, 12a′ and the second set of beds 12b, 12b′. The light-receiving element 15 is also electrically connected to a MOSFET pellet 16 through the conductive dummy pellets 19, 19′. The light-receiving element 15 is mounted on the dummy pellets 19, 19′, so that the light receiving surface 15a of the light-receiving element 15 may face the light-emitting element 13.
Then, as shown in
Finally, as shown in
In this embodiment, the material of the dummy pellet is not specified particularly, and various conductive and non-conductive materials such as the ceramics series, silicon series, and metal series can be selected properly depending on the design of the internal element.
In addition, in the embodiments described, the first and second sets of lead frames, which are united with each other, are used. However, it is not necessary using the lead frames united with each other since the lead frames separately formed may be arranged on the same plane under a position control. Further, this optical semiconductor device may be formed continuously using hoop-shaped frames.
Further, the connecting method for connecting the elements to each other on the bed is not specified particularly, since resin junction, eutectic junction or FCB can be selected properly.
Although the MOSFET is used in the embodiments, the effects such as reduction in the number of steps, suppression of variations in the characteristics, and miniaturization of the package can be obtained when the dummy pellet is mounted on the light-receiving element, even in an optical semiconductor device having no MOSFET. The dummy pellet is not necessarily remained on the bed in the optical semiconductor device but the bed may be removed after resin sealing.
Other embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and example embodiments be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-106772 | Mar 2004 | JP | national |
