KR20060117067A - Sensor system, method of manufacturing a circuit module and a sensor module used therefor and method of manufacturing the sensor system - Google Patents

Abstract

A sensor system is provided to use a flexible substrate and to achieve an extendable flexible sensor system including a circuit module and a sensor module. A sensor system includes a circuit module and a sensor module. The circuit module is composed of a first flexible substrate and an IC(Integrated Circuit). The first flexible substrate has a first metal line and a first connection line for contacting the first metal line. The IC is attached to the first flexible substrate. At this time, the first metal line is connected with the IC. The sensor module(200) includes a second flexible substrate and a sensor. The second flexible substrate has a second metal line and a second connection line for contacting the second metal line. The sensor is attached to the second flexible substrate. At this time, the second metal line is connected with the senor. The circuit module and the sensor module are electrically connected with each other by connecting directly the first connection line with the second connection line.

Description

Sensor system, method of manufacturing a circuit module and sensor module, and method of manufacturing sensor system used therefor and method of manufacturing the sensor system}

1A is a schematic diagram illustrating a circuit module used in a sensor system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

1B is a schematic diagram illustrating a sensor module used in a sensor system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a schematic view showing a sensor system according to an example of the present invention using the circuit module according to FIG. 1A and the sensor module according to FIG. 1B;

3 and 4 are process diagrams for explaining the manufacturing method of the circuit module according to FIG. 1A;

5A and 5B are schematic views illustrating a connection method of a circuit module and a sensor module according to FIGS. 3 and 4; And

6 is an actual photograph of a circuit module manufactured by the process diagram according to FIG. 3 or 4.

The present invention relates to a sensor system, a circuit module used in the sensor system, a method for manufacturing the sensor module, and a method for manufacturing the sensor system. Particularly, a flexible sensor system implemented and extended using a flexible substrate, and used for the sensor system A method of manufacturing a circuit module and a sensor module, and a method of manufacturing a sensor system.

Recent trends in technology show that a computer or sensor system that includes words such as wearable, flexible, and ubiquitous forms a flow. . In this regard, many researchers are working on incorporating computers and other electronic systems into clothes and textiles. For example, research is underway to develop clothes that can perform various functions needed in everyday life, from entertainment devices such as MP3 players to sensors that measure human body temperature and other health conditions. have. One of the most important tasks in this research is the flexible and electrical connection of various circuits and sensors, such as human clothes, and many related technologies have been published. Recently, Infineon Technology of Germany announced the related technology under the title of "Enabling Technologies for Disappearing Electronics in Smart Textiles" in the field of technology flow of 2003 International Society of Solid-state Electronics Circuits (ISSCC 2003).

Apart from this, research is being actively conducted to develop a display or a system by implementing the electronic circuit itself on a flexible substrate. Flexible displays have already been commercialized by a company called Polymervision.

Ubiquitous sensor system is a small independent system generally composed of sensor, sensor controller, wireless transceiver and battery. These sensors are networked and always monitor the necessary information. Research into these systems is currently exploding and many commercial products are already beginning to emerge. In 2004, Hitach, Japan, published a paper titled "Ubiquitous Services and Networking: Monitoring the real world" at International Symposium on Applications and the Internet, which summarized the ubiquitous sensor system.

All of the above technologies have the potential to change the way of life. Looking at the characteristics of these technologies, it will be seen that the core technology will be the technology for implementing the necessary sensors and electronic circuits on a flexible substrate and connecting them together to implement an independent system. To date, research on each of these technologies has progressed a lot, but the technology of fusion of them to realize a flexible and independent system is still insufficient.

Therefore, the technical problem of the present invention is to provide a sensor system that is flexible, easy to implement and expand.

Another technical problem of the present invention is to provide a circuit module and a method for manufacturing the sensor module used in the sensor system.

Another technical problem of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing the sensor system.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sensor system comprising: a circuit module including a substrate made of a flexible material having a wiring line and a connection line connected to the wiring line, and an IC attached to the wiring line; A sensor module including a substrate made of a flexible material having a wiring and a connection line connected to the wiring, and a sensor attached to be connected to the wiring, is provided.

The connection line of the circuit module and the connection line of the sensor module is connected, characterized in that the circuit module and the sensor module is electrically connected.

In this case, at least two circuit modules and the sensor module are provided, and all the circuit modules and the sensor modules are electrically connected.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sensor system comprising: a substrate made of a flexible material having wirings and connecting lines for connecting wirings and wirings with each other; At least one IC and at least one sensor attached to each of the wires is provided.

Method of manufacturing a circuit module according to the present invention for achieving the above technical problem comprises the steps of: preparing a silicon substrate; Forming a sacrificial layer on the silicon substrate; Forming the wiring and the connection line on the sacrificial layer; Coating and solidifying a liquid polymer on the resultant; Removing the silicon substrate and the sacrificial layer; Forming an insulating layer on the upper surface of the region where electricity does not flow; And attaching the IC to be electrically connected to the wiring.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a sensor module, including: preparing a silicon substrate; Forming a sacrificial layer on the silicon substrate; Forming the wiring and the connection line on the sacrificial layer; Coating and solidifying a liquid polymer on the resultant; Removing the silicon substrate and the sacrificial layer; Forming an insulating layer on the upper surface of the region where electricity does not flow; And attaching the sensor to be electrically connected to the wiring.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a sensor system, including: preparing a silicon substrate; Forming a sacrificial layer on the silicon substrate; Forming at least the wirings and the connection lines on the sacrificial layer; Coating and solidifying a liquid polymer on the resultant; Removing the silicon substrate and the sacrificial layer; Forming an insulating layer on the upper surface of the region where electricity does not flow; And attaching the IC and the sensor to be connected to each of the wires.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the sensor system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1a is a schematic diagram showing a circuit module used in the sensor system according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 1b is a schematic diagram showing a sensor module used in the sensor system according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is in Figure 1a Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing a sensor system according to an example of the present invention using the circuit module and the sensor module according to Figure 1b, Figures 3 and 4 are process diagrams for explaining the manufacturing method of the circuit module according to Figure 1a, Figures 5a and 5B is a schematic diagram illustrating a connection method of a circuit module and a sensor module according to FIGS. 3 and 4, and FIG. 6 is an actual photograph of a circuit module manufactured by a process diagram according to FIG. 3 or 4.

Example 1

Referring to FIG. 1A, a circuit module 100 includes a substrate 110 on which wiring and connection lines 120 are formed, and an IC 130 attached to the substrate 100 and responsible for sensing, processing, and transmitting signals. 1A is a diagram in which the IC 130 is attached, so wiring is not shown. The substrate 110 is made of a polymer such as rubber, polyimide, or the like to have flexibility. The wiring and the connection line 120 are formed by electroplating on the substrate 110 to be electrically connected to each other. IC 130 is attached to substrate 110 to be connected to the wiring using an anisotropic conductive adhesive. At this time, in order to attach the IC 130 to the substrate 110, the substrate 110 or the IC 130 has a bump structure. Multi-layered wiring may be formed on the substrate 110.

Referring to FIG. 1B, the sensor module 200 includes a substrate 210 on which wiring and connection lines 220 are formed and a sensor 230 attached to the substrate 210. The circuit module 100 according to FIG. Likewise, a polymer is used as the substrate 210, the wiring and the connection line 220 are formed by electroplating, and the sensor 230 is attached to the substrate 210 to be connected to the wiring using an anisotropic conductive adhesive. In this case, the substrate 210 or the sensor 230 has a bump structure in order to attach the sensor 230 to the substrate 210.

The sensor system according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention is formed by electrically connecting the connection line 120 of the circuit module 100 of FIG. 1A and the connection line 220 of the sensor module 200 of FIG. 1B. As a connection method, the connection line 120 of the circuit module and the connection line 220 of the sensor module are directly connected by using an anisotropic conductive adhesive, or by using a separate connection module made of a flexible material formed with a connection line.

Example 2

The present embodiment relates to a sensor system in which a function is expanded by using a plurality of circuit modules according to FIG. 1A and a plurality of sensor modules according to FIG. 1A.

Referring to FIG. 2 in conjunction with FIGS. 1A and 1B, a sensor system according to a second embodiment of the present invention is implemented by electrically connecting a plurality of circuit modules according to FIG. 1A and a plurality of sensor modules according to FIG. 1B. . The circuit module, the sensor module, the sensor module, and the circuit module are directly connected to each other by using a separate connection module made of a flexible material board or a connection line as in Example 1. A detailed description of the arrangement of the circuit modules and the sensor modules will be described later. At this time, since the arrangement of the circuit module and the sensor module can be modified as necessary, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the sensor system shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 2, the sensor modules 200 are arranged to form a matrix. Among the circuit modules, predetermined circuit modules 100 ′ (hereinafter, referred to as first circuit modules) are positioned in front of the row formed by the sensor modules 200 to form one column, and the other predetermined circuit module ( 100 " (hereinafter referred to as second circuit modules) are positioned at the front of the columns formed by the sensor modules 200 to form one row, and at the intersection of the rows and columns formed by the circuit modules 100 The circuit modules are arranged such that '') (hereinafter referred to as a third circuit module) is located. The third circuit module 100 ′ “is connected to a device provided separately from the outside by wire or wirelessly. The first circuit modules 100 'select a row of sensor modules. The second circuit modules 100 ″ select a column of the sensor module and sense a signal generated from the sensor module selected by the first circuit module and the second circuit module. The signal detected by the second circuit module 100 'is transmitted to the outside by the third circuit module 100'. At this time, the first circuit module 100 ', the second circuit module 100' and the third circuit module 100 '' may be configured to be responsible for their respective functions, but all of the circuit modules have the same function. For example, it may be configured to perform row selection, column selection, signal sensing, and transmission functions, but may be in charge of only necessary functions depending on the location where the program is installed.

Example 3

This embodiment has the same structure as the sensor system according to the above-described embodiment 1 or 2, but does not use a separately provided circuit module and sensor module, but in a sensor system implemented by attaching an IC and a sensor on one substrate. It is about.

The sensor system according to the third embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate made of a flexible material on which wirings and connecting lines are formed, at least one IC and at least one sensor attached to be connected to each wiring. The connecting line is formed to connect the wiring and the wiring and to connect each wiring with the outside. At this time, since the material and structure of the substrate, the method of forming the wiring and the connecting line, the method of attaching the IC and the sensor, the method of arranging the IC and the sensor are the same as those described in the first and second embodiments, the repeated description thereof will be omitted.

Example 4

This embodiment relates to a method of manufacturing a circuit module according to FIG. 1A.

Referring to FIG. 3, in the method of manufacturing a circuit module, a silicon substrate 10 is first prepared and a sacrificial layer 20 is formed on the silicon substrate 10. Next, a predetermined region of the sacrificial layer 20 is etched to form a bump forming bump mold 21 for attaching the IC 130. Then, on the sacrificial layer 20, the wiring 140, the connecting line, and the bump 30 connected to the wiring are formed by electroplating. Subsequently, the substrate 110 is formed by coating and solidifying a liquid polymer made of a silicone-based rubber on the resultant formed with the wiring 140, the connecting line 120, and the bump 30. Then, the silicon substrate 10 and the sacrificial layer are formed. Remove (20). Subsequently, in order to prevent unwanted electrical contact between the wirings, an insulating layer 40 made of silicon-based rubber is formed on the upper surface of the region except for the bumps 30, the wiring 140, and the connecting line 120. Form. At this time, the insulating layer 40 is also formed in the remaining region of the wiring 140 except for the region where the IC 130 is attached. Then, by attaching the IC 130 to the bump 30 using the anisotropic conductive adhesive 50 and applying heat and pressure, a circuit module as shown in FIG. 6 is manufactured.

Example 5

The present embodiment also relates to a method for manufacturing a circuit module used in the sensor system according to the first or second embodiment described above, but it is characterized by using an IC in which bumps are formed.

Referring to FIG. 4, in the method of manufacturing a circuit module, a silicon substrate 10 is first prepared and a sacrificial layer 20 is formed on the silicon substrate 10. Next, the wiring 140 and the connection line 120 are formed on the sacrificial layer 20 using electroplating. Subsequently, the substrate 110 is formed by coating and hardening a liquid polymer made of a silicone-based rubber on the resultant on which the wiring 140 and the connection line 120 are formed, and then removing the silicon substrate 10 and the sacrificial layer 20. do. Subsequently, in order to prevent unwanted electrical contact between the wirings, an insulating layer 40 made of silicon-based rubber is formed on the upper surface of the area excluding the connection line 120 and the place where the bump formed in the IC is located. do. Therefore, an insulating layer is formed in the remaining area | region except the area | region where bump is located in wiring. Then, the circuit module as shown in FIG. 6 is manufactured by attaching the IC 130 having the bumps 30 to the wiring 140 using the anisotropic conductive adhesive 50 and applying heat and pressure to heat and pressure.

Example 6

This embodiment relates to a method of manufacturing the sensor module according to FIG. 1B described above. In this case, the manufacturing method of the sensor module is the same as the manufacturing method of the circuit module according to the fourth embodiment or the fifth embodiment, and since only the sensor is attached to the substrate instead of the IC, the repeated description is omitted.

Example 7

This embodiment relates to a connection method of the circuit module according to the fourth embodiment or the fifth embodiment and the sensor module according to the sixth embodiment.

The sensor system according to the present invention is implemented by directly connecting the connecting line 120 of the circuit module and the connecting line 220 of the sensor module using the anisotropic conductive adhesive 50 as shown in FIG. 5A, or the connecting line of the circuit module as shown in FIG. 5B. The connection line 220 of the sensor module 120 and the sensor module are implemented by using a separate connection module 300 made of a flexible material formed with a connection line.

Example 8

This embodiment relates to a manufacturing method of a sensor system according to the third embodiment.

In the present embodiment, at least two wirings are formed in the step of forming the wiring and the connecting line, and the connecting lines are formed to connect the wiring and the wiring and connect each wiring to the outside, and at least one IC on one substrate. And since only the point of attaching at least one sensor is different because other processes are the same as the manufacturing method of the circuit module according to the fourth embodiment or the fifth embodiment, repeated description thereof will be omitted.

As described above, according to the sensor system according to the present invention, it is flexible, easy to implement and expand, and can be used for various purposes depending on which sensor is used for the sensor module.

For example, if a sensor module is constructed using a tactile sensor, the sensor module may be applied to artificial skin of a robot, and may also be applied to measuring the pressure distribution applied to a foot during human behavior and medically using it. If you attach a medical-related sensor, such as a sensor that monitors the body temperature or heart rate, it is possible to implement a sensor system that can be continuously attached to the patient's body or clothes to observe the patient's condition.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and it is apparent that many modifications are possible by those skilled in the art within the technical spirit of the present invention.

Claims (20)

A circuit module comprising a substrate made of a flexible material having a wiring and a connection line connected to the wiring, and an IC attached to be connected to the wiring; A sensor module including a substrate made of a flexible material having a wiring and a connection line connected to the wiring, and a sensor attached to be connected to the wiring, is provided. Sensor circuit, characterized in that the circuit module and the sensor module is electrically connected by connecting the connection line of the circuit module and the sensor module. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the circuit module and the sensor module are connected by directly connecting a connection line or connected using a connection module made of a flexible material substrate having a connection line. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein at least two circuit modules and the sensor module are provided, and all the circuit modules and the sensor modules are electrically connected to each other. The method of claim 3, wherein the sensor modules are arranged to form a matrix, Among the circuit modules, predetermined circuit modules are located at the front of the row formed by the sensor modules to form one column, and other predetermined circuit modules are located at the front of the column formed by the sensor modules to form one row and the circuit module And the circuit modules are arranged such that one circuit module is positioned at an intersection point of rows and columns formed by the circuits. The method of claim 3, wherein the circuit modules, the circuit module and the sensor module, and the sensor modules are connected by directly connecting connection lines or connected by using connection modules made of a flexible substrate having a connection line formed thereon. Sensor system, characterized in that. A substrate made of a flexible material having wirings and connecting lines for connecting the wirings to the wirings and connecting the wirings to the outside; And at least one IC and at least one sensor attached to each of the wirings. 7. The sensor system according to claim 1 or 6, wherein the wiring and the connecting line are formed by electroplating. 7. The sensor system of claim 1 or 6, wherein the IC and the sensor are attached to each corresponding substrate using an anisotropic conductive adhesive. The sensor system according to claim 1 or 6, wherein the IC or the corresponding substrate on which the sensor is installed has a bump. 7. A sensor system as claimed in claim 1 or 6 wherein the IC and sensor have bumps. 7. A sensor system as claimed in claim 1 or 6 wherein the flexible material is made of a polymer. The manufacturing method of the circuit module used in claim 1 is: Providing a silicon substrate; Forming a sacrificial layer on the silicon substrate; Forming the wiring and the connection line on the sacrificial layer; Coating and solidifying a liquid polymer on the resultant; Removing the silicon substrate and the sacrificial layer; Forming an insulating layer on the upper surface of the region where electricity does not flow; And attaching the IC to be electrically connected to the wiring. The method of claim 12, further comprising forming a bump mold by etching a predetermined region of the sacrificial layer between the forming of the sacrificial layer and the forming of the wiring and the connecting line. And forming bumps in the bump mold in a step of forming a connection line, wherein the IC is attached to the bumps. The manufacturing method of a circuit module according to claim 12, wherein said IC has a bump for attaching to said wiring. The manufacturing method of the sensor module used in claim 1 is: Providing a silicon substrate; Forming a sacrificial layer on the silicon substrate; Forming the wiring and the connection line on the sacrificial layer; Coating and solidifying a liquid polymer on the resultant; Removing the silicon substrate and the sacrificial layer; Forming an insulating layer on the upper surface of the region where electricity does not flow; And attaching the sensor to be electrically connected to the wiring. The method of claim 15, further comprising forming a bump mold by etching a predetermined region of the sacrificial layer between the forming of the sacrificial layer and the forming of the wiring and the connecting line. And forming a bump connected to the wire in the bump mold in the forming of the bump, and wherein the sensor is attached to the bump. The method of claim 15, wherein the sensor has a bump for attaching to the wiring. The manufacturing method of the sensor system according to claim 6 is Providing a silicon substrate; Forming a sacrificial layer on the silicon substrate; Forming at least the wirings and the connection lines on the sacrificial layer; Coating and solidifying a liquid polymer on the resultant; Removing the silicon substrate and the sacrificial layer; Forming an insulating layer on the upper surface of the region where electricity does not flow; Attaching the IC and the sensor to be connected to each of the wirings. 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising forming at least two bump molds by etching a predetermined region of the sacrificial layer between the forming of the sacrificial layer and the forming of the wirings and the connection lines. And a bump connected to the wiring in the step of forming a wiring and the connecting line is formed in the bump mold, and the IC and the sensor are attached to the bump. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the IC and the sensor have bumps for attaching to the wiring.

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