The current invention relates to a direct conversion, semiconductor x-ray imaging device where the detector substrate is bump bonded to the readout substrate. X-rays (or other type of radiation) impinge upon the detector and electron-holes pairs are created inside the detector substrate (thus the term “direct conversion”) in response to the absorbed energy. Under the influence of an electric field applied across the detector these electron(holes) are transferred to charge collection electrodes. The charge collection electrodes are connected to corresponding readout electrodes on a readout substrate, which act as the input to a readout pixel on the readout substrate. The connection is made via bumps and the known flip-chip bonding technique.
The technique of bumping and flip-chip bonding is wide spread in the manufacturing of direct conversion x-ray imaging devices. Typically the bumps are grown with electroplating or electroless on the readout substrate side at a wafer scale. Then the wafer is diced and flip-bonded to the detector substrate. The bumps can however be grown on both sides, i.e., on the readout and/or the detector substrate. Typical bump composition found in imaging devices are PbSn, BiPbSn, BiSn, Au, AgSn, In. Each has its advantages. Examples of bump-bonded semiconductor radiation imaging devices can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,646A and U.S. Pat. No. 6,933,505B2. In NIM A Vol 527 Issue 3, “A CdTe real time X-ray imaging sensor and system”, a detailed embodiment of a CdTe x-ray imaging device is disclosed where the bumps are BiSn, grown on the CMOS. The pixel size is 100 um (one hundred micrometers) and by way of example the bump size is approximately 25 um (twenty five micrometers) while the bump size is roughly spherical. After the bonding the bumps are squashed and the bump is more like an ellipsoid with post bonding height of about 15 um (fifteen micrometers). In NIM A501 2003 “A directly converting high-resolution intra-oral X-ray imaging sensor”, an x-ray imaging sensor for intraoral imaging is disclosed. The readout substrate is again a CMOS and the detector is fully depleted Si. The pixel size in this case is 35 um (thirty five micrometers). For so small pixel size the bumps are expected to be of the order 10 um-15 um and the post bonding height around 10 um.
In other prior art examples, the bumps are grown on both the readout substrate (CMOS) and the detector substrate (Si, CdTe, CdZnTe etc). In such examples in prior art one finds In bumps and/or Au studs.
The prior art techniques in bump-bonded semiconductor imaging devices work and are efficient due to the relatively large pixel size. By large pixel size is meant pixel pitch of thirty five micrometers (35 um) to two hundred micrometers (200 um). At the low end (close to 35 um) the above described bump bonding techniques suffer from sever limitations:
It is therefore no coincidence that the breakthrough intraoral sensor described in NIM A501 2003 “A directly converting high-resolution intra-oral X-ray imaging sensor”, never came to the market despite the efforts of several sensor manufacturers trying to employ the above mentioned conventional bump bonding techniques. The yield was too low and the manufacturing cost too high.
Furthermore, there are no known direct conversion, bump-bonded, high pixel density x-ray (or gamma ray, beta ray or other form of radiation) imaging devices, at least none produced regularly and with high yield. High pixel density means a readout pixel with size of less than sixty micrometers (<60 um) and preferably less than thirty five micrometers (<35 um) bump bonded to a detector pixel with size of less than thirty five micrometers (<35 um).
The current invention provides a direct conversion radiation imaging device that overcomes the limitations of prior art. Specifically, in accordance with the current invention, the direct conversion x-ray comprises a semiconductor detector substrate, a readout substrate and the two are bump bonded together with each detector pixel bonded to one or more readout pixels by means of capillary bump bonds.
A capillary bump has essentially a substantially rigid portion, usually of the element copper (Cu) or other metals such as Nickel (Ni), Aluminum (Al) etc., with high melting point and a bump solder “hat” grown on top of the rigid element. The bump solder hat has initially, during the manufacturing process, a semi spherical shape and is usual made from one of: tin (Sn), lead-tin (PbSn), bismuth-tin (BiSn), silver-tin (AgSn) etc. In the manufactured imaging device, the bump solder hat has a final cross-section shape of a compressed spherical shape, with upper and lower surfaces that are generally flat and parallel, and arcuate end surfaces connecting the upper and lower surfaces. The final shape of the bump solder hat may be a compressed ellipsoidal-like structure compressed along its minor axis, with upper and lower surfaces that are generally flat and parallel, and arcuate end surfaces connecting the upper and lower surfaces.
During the bonding process the temperature used is from 70 C to 250 C and the solder hat is in a reflow state or almost reflow state and is squeezed, just as an ordinary bump, found in the prior art, would be squeezed. However, the capillary element (in the form typically of cylindrical or other type/shape of pillar) stays rigid and acts as a pillar that will not allow the two substrates, i.e., the detector and readout, to come closer than the height of the pillar. In this way the semiconductor direct conversion imaging device has a well-defined post bonding height, the solder hats are not sorted with each other or with the readout pixels and can be reliably manufactured even for the smallest pixel sizes, i.e., for pixels less than sixty micrometers (<60 um), even less than thirty five micrometers (<35 um) and even less than or equal to twenty five micrometers 25 um).
With reference to
The bump 6 need not be just SnBi, but can be composed by other types of solders like: PbSn, BiPbSn, AgSn, In, or other types of solder. The composition of the bump 6 is important in view of the bonding process. During the bonding process the CMOS readout substrate and the detector substrates are heated, then flipped and bonded together in accordance with a thermal-compression profile which defines the temperature ramp and pressure as a function of time. In some cases the bump is in a reflow state during bonding and in some other cases the bump is merely softened and compressed (for example with In). In radiation imaging the pixel sizes are typically in the range from few micrometers and up to one millimeter. The x-ray imaging devices pixel size where the flip-chip bonding technique is applied is in most cases in the range of 60 um to 400 um and most often the pixel size is in the range of 75 um to 120 um. The bump sizes in the prior art are typically in the range from 20 um (in diameter) to 50 um (diameter). Therefore the pre-bonding distance between the CMOS readout substrate and the detector is of the order of the size of the bump, i.e., between 20 um and 50 um.
Another important consideration is that the post bonding height 210 relates to the input node capacitance of the readout CMOS pixels. A bigger separation 210 between the detector and readout is desirable because it reduces the input node capacitance which means a better signal. The input node capacitance and the gain are related as is well known “V=Q/C”, where (V) is the gain amplitude for a charge (Q) generated inside the detector substrate in response to incident radiation, with input node capacitance (C). With the traditional bump and bonding techniques the post bonding height is not controlled and can actually be quite small for small pixel sizes. Especially in an area of 3 cm×4 mm or 2 cm×3 cm, which is typical in x-ray imaging intraoral sensors, the post bonding height will vary between 5 um and 10 um as a result of parallelism inaccuracies between the two substrates. Therefore the input node capacitance will vary across the imaging device which is another down-side in addition to the risk of pixels been shorted with one another.
Finally, trying to control the post bonding height 210 within the range of 5 um to 10 um, brings manufacturing close to the limits (the accuracy) of available bonding equipment.
With reference to
The detector material 102 for converting directly incoming x-ray radiation to electron-hole pairs is preferably fully depleted Si of thickness 0.5 mm to 2 mm. Alternatively, the detector material maybe CdTe or CdZnTe or GaAs. In the preferred embodiment of the current invention the detector is as mentioned Si, in single crystal form. Single crystal Si, fully depleted detector has the benefit of extreme uniformity and planarity and can be manufactured using conventional semiconductor industry's wafer level equipment. As a result very small pixel sizes can be achieved. For example in the preferred embodiment of the current invention an intraoral x-ray imaging sensor comprises Si fully depleted detector of thickness 0.5 mm to 2.0 mm with pixel size 25 um or even smaller, i.e., 10 um to 25 um pixel size.
Always with reference to
The CMOS readout pixel array 101 carries the capillary bumps described above and is then flipped and bonded to the Si detector array with a corresponding number of detector pixels 102, as shown in