Patent
Semiconductor device for detecting flow rate of fluid
| العنوان: | Semiconductor device for detecting flow rate of fluid |
|---|---|
| Patent Number: | 7,640,798 |
| تاريخ النشر: | January 05, 2010 |
| Appl. No: | 12/000462 |
| Application Filed: | December 13, 2007 |
| مستخلص: | A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor substrate; a flow sensor having a first heater for detecting a flow rate of fluid; and a humidity sensor for detecting a humidity of the fluid. The flow sensor and the humidity sensor are disposed on the semiconductor substrate. The flow sensor is disposed around the humidity sensor. The humidity sensor is disposed on an upstream side of the first heater. Since the device includes the humidity sensor, moisture in the fluid is compensated so that detection accuracy of the flow rate is improved. |
| Inventors: | Oda, Teruo (Gamagori, JP) |
| Assignees: | DENSO CORPORATION (Kariya, JP) |
| Claim: | 1. A semiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor substrate; a flow sensor having a first heater for detecting a flow rate of fluid; a humidity sensor for detecting a humidity of the fluid; a pad disposed on the substrate; a resin sealing member; and a polymer film for increasing adhesiveness between the semiconductor substrate and the resin sealing member, wherein the flow sensor and the humidity sensor are disposed on the semiconductor substrate, the flow sensor is disposed around the humidity sensor, the humidity sensor is disposed on an upstream side of the first heater, the humidity sensor and the flow sensor output detection signals through the pad, the pad is coupled with an external terminal at a connection portion, the resin sealing member covers a part of the substrate that includes the connection portion and does not include the humidity sensor and the flow sensor, the polymer film is partially disposed between the part of the substrate and the resin sealing member, the humidity sensor includes a pair of electrodes and a humidity sensitive film, the pair of electrodes is made of conductive material, and disposed on the substrate, the humidity sensitive film is disposed on the substrate and disposed between the pair of electrodes, the humidity sensitive film has a relative permittivity or an impedance, which is changeable in accordance with humidity change, and the humidity sensitive film and the polymer film are made of a same material. |
| Claim: | 2. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , wherein the humidity sensor is adjacent to the flow sensor along a flowing direction of the fluid. |
| Claim: | 3. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , wherein the humidity sensitive film and the polymer film are partially integrated. |
| Claim: | 4. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , wherein the humidity sensitive film and the polymer film are separated. |
| Claim: | 5. The semiconductor device according to claim 4 , wherein the polymer film is completely covered with the resin sealing member. |
| Claim: | 6. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , wherein the humidity sensitive film is made of poly-imide. |
| Claim: | 7. The semiconductor device according to claim 6 , wherein the poly-imide includes a plurality of molecular chains for providing a network structure, and both ends of each chain are connected. |
| Claim: | 8. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a second heater for heating the humidity sensor, wherein the second heater is disposed on the substrate, the first and second heaters are provided by a same wire, and the first and second heaters are integrated. |
| Claim: | 9. The semiconductor device according to claim 8 , wherein the substrate further includes a first low heat conduction portion and a second low heat conduction portion, the first low heat conduction portion is disposed under the first heater, the second low heat conduction portion is disposed under the humidity sensor, each of the first and second low heat conduction portions has a heat conduction lower than a heat conduction of other parts of the semiconductor substrate, one of the first and second low heat conduction portions is provided by a concavity of the substrate, and the other one of the first and second low heat conduction portions is provided by a porous silicon part of the substrate. |
| Claim: | 10. The semiconductor device according to claim 8 , wherein the first heater has a first width, which is different from a second width of the second heater. |
| Claim: | 11. The semiconductor device according to claim 8 , wherein the substrate further includes a first low heat conduction portion and a second low heat conduction portion, the first low heat conduction portion is disposed under the first heater, the second low heat conduction portion is disposed under the humidity sensor, each of the first and second low heat conduction portions has a heat conduction lower than a heat conduction of other parts of the semiconductor substrate, the first low heat conduction portion has a first depth in a thickness direction of the semiconductor substrate, the second low heat conduction portion has a second depth in the thickness direction of the semiconductor substrate, and the first depth is different from the second depth. |
| Claim: | 12. The semiconductor device according to claim 11 , wherein each of the first and second low heat conduction portions is provided by a concavity of the substrate. |
| Claim: | 13. The semiconductor device according to claim 11 , wherein each of the first and second low heat conduction portions is provided by a porous silicon part of the substrate. |
| Claim: | 14. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , wherein the flow sensor and the humidity sensor are disposed on a same side of the semiconductor substrate, the substrate further includes a groove, which is disposed between the first heater and the humidity sensor, and the groove has a predetermined depth in a thickness direction of the substrate. |
| Current U.S. Class: | 7320/426 |
| Patent References Cited: | 4893508 January 1990 Friedman 6490915 December 2002 Yamada et al. 6812821 November 2004 Fujita et al. 6883371 April 2005 Sugaya et al. 6983653 January 2006 Iwaki et al. 7219543 May 2007 Tanaka et al. 7219544 May 2007 Tanaka et al. 7531136 May 2009 Besnard et al. 2004/0254306 December 2004 Isogai et al. A-10-197305 July 1998 A-2003-232765 August 2003 A-2005-257474 September 2005 A-2005-257590 September 2005 A-2006-71647 March 2006 A-2006-352666 December 2006 A-2007-155556 June 2007 |
| Primary Examiner: | Thompson, Jewel |
| Attorney, Agent or Firm: | Posz Law Group, PLC |
| رقم الانضمام: | edspgr.07640798 |
| قاعدة البيانات: | USPTO Patent Grants |
| الوصف غير متاح. |