EP2348503B1 - Ultraschallsensor zum Erfassen und/ oder Abtasten von Objekten und entsprechendes Herstellungsverfahren - Google Patents

Ultraschallsensor zum Erfassen und/ oder Abtasten von Objekten und entsprechendes Herstellungsverfahren Download PDF

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Publication number
EP2348503B1
EP2348503B1 EP10000489.4A EP10000489A EP2348503B1 EP 2348503 B1 EP2348503 B1 EP 2348503B1 EP 10000489 A EP10000489 A EP 10000489A EP 2348503 B1 EP2348503 B1 EP 2348503B1
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EP
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Prior art keywords
substrate
ultrasonic
elevations
depressions
sensor unit
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EP10000489.4A
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German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
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EP2348503A1 (de
Inventor
Thomas Dr. Herzog
Henning Dr. Heuer
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Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung eV
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Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung eV
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Priority to EP10000489.4A priority Critical patent/EP2348503B1/de
Priority to US12/987,514 priority patent/US8468892B2/en
Priority to JP2011004790A priority patent/JP5734673B2/ja
Publication of EP2348503A1 publication Critical patent/EP2348503A1/de
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
    • G10K—SOUND-PRODUCING DEVICES; METHODS OR DEVICES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST, OR FOR DAMPING, NOISE OR OTHER ACOUSTIC WAVES IN GENERAL; ACOUSTICS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G10K11/00—Methods or devices for transmitting, conducting or directing sound in general; Methods or devices for protecting against, or for damping, noise or other acoustic waves in general
    • G10K11/002—Devices for damping, suppressing, obstructing or conducting sound in acoustic devices

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an ultrasonic sensor for detecting and / or scanning objects according to the preamble of claim 1 and to a manufacturing method for such an ultrasonic sensor.
  • active piezoelectric thin films such as thin films of AlN or ZnO for ultrasonic sensors
  • these are usually deposited directly on suitable substrates or substrates such as silicon, sapphire, gallium nitride, etc. If these thin films with their carrier materials are to be used as ultrasonic sensors, then the propagation of the ultrasonic waves is in the coupled (to be detected and / or measured) medium (this will be referred to alternatively as an object hereinafter) and to evaluate the resulting echo reflected from a boundary layer in the medium or object.
  • an ultrasonic sensor (and a corresponding manufacturing method) for Provide available with the above disturbing echoes by the boundary layer between the back of the carrier and the adjacent medium as far as possible can be completely suppressed and yet the simplest possible, compact, in particular suitable for the use of active piezoelectric thin-film design and flexible use possible ,
  • the basic idea of the present invention is based on configuring the above-described rear surface of the carrier substrate (hereinafter also referred to simply as substrate) of the ultrasonic sensor such that no disturbing echoes of the boundary layer between the carrier substrate rear side and the adjacent medium lead to the piezoelectric sensor layer or to the sensor unit of the ultrasonic sensor Returned ultrasonic sensor.
  • This is done by forming the rear side of the substrate in such a way that a large number of needle-shaped elevations and depressions are introduced into this rear side, that is to say that a corresponding surface structuring of the substrate rear side takes place.
  • the substrate may also include multiple layers, so in this case a Surface structuring of the back of the sensor unit furthest away from the substrate layer takes place. (However, if required by the choice of material, even several surfaces or boundary layers of a multi-layered substrate can be surface or deep structured.)
  • the surface or back side of the substrate to be structured in this way can be formed in particular in the form of black silicon. Likewise, however, it is also possible, when using sapphire or gallium nitride as the substrate material, to deep-restructure their back sides accordingly.
  • a diffuse scattering is understood to mean a scattering of ultrasonic waves which is designed such that, after scattering, there is no more directed propagation of the ultrasonic waves in a preferred direction, but a further propagation of the ultrasonic energy in most different directions such that the scattered ultrasound waves can not be detected by the sensor unit (or only a slight echo).
  • a lateral direction is understood to mean a direction within the layer plane of the ultrasound sensor and / or its sensor unit.
  • the direction vertical For this purpose, that is to say the direction perpendicular to the sensor plane and / or to the plane of the substrate (eg wafer) is alternatively referred to below as the depth direction or as the height direction.
  • an average extent eg a mean lateral extent, ie an extension in the direction of the layer plane of the sensor or an average height extent of the elevations in the direction perpendicular to the layer plane
  • the arithmetic mean of the plurality of individual values is below the corresponding mean (eg of lateral extensions of individual needle-shaped elevations).
  • An inventive ultrasonic sensor comprises a substrate and a piezoelectric sensor unit arranged on or on this substrate and / or connected to this substrate.
  • the rear side of the substrate facing away from the piezoelectric sensor unit has a multiplicity of needle-shaped elevations and depressions, thus a surface structure is introduced in this rear side.
  • This surface structuring or surface structure is designed in such a way that it causes a diffuse scattering of the ultrasonic waves incident from the direction of the sensor unit (that is to say from the front side of the sensor) onto the structured rear side.
  • the elevations and / or depressions may have an average lateral extent in the range from 0.05 ⁇ m to 1 mm, preferably in the range from 0.1 ⁇ m to 200 ⁇ m and particularly preferably in the range from 0.2 ⁇ m to 20 ⁇ m. This average lateral extent may thus be less than or equal to the wavelength of an ultrasonic wave that can be generated by the piezoelectric sensor unit (on the front side of the substrate).
  • the piezoelectric sensor unit applied to the front surface of the substrate may be configured to emit and / or receive ultrasonic waves corresponding to a frequency in the range of 20 kHz to 1 GHz.
  • the piezoelectric sensor unit can also be composed of a plurality of subunits designed to receive or transmit ultrasound.
  • Corresponding embodiments as well as evaluation algorithms for evaluating the transmitted and / or received ultrasound signals are known to the person skilled in the art (for example, corresponding embodiments of US Pat DE 10 2006 005 048 A1 remove).
  • the surface structure patterned on the rear side of the substrate can be designed for the diffuse scattering of ultrasonic waves corresponding to the aforementioned frequency range.
  • the substrate is preferably silicon, in particular crystalline silicon.
  • the substrate may be a silicon wafer. However, it is also conceivable to use sapphire or gallium nitride as the substrate.
  • the back side and / or its surface structure is preferably formed in the form of black silicon.
  • black silicon is understood to mean a surface modification of the crystalline silicon.
  • the crystalline silicon is structured, for example by ultrashort laser pulses or by bombarding the silicon surface with high energy ions of the substrate back, so that optically optically active, preferably acicular structures (FIG. Surveys and recesses) be generated on the surface.
  • the needle-shaped depressions and elevations in the silicon can be produced using the reactive ion etching known to the person skilled in the art.
  • the ion etching process is a two-stage, alternating dry etching process in which an etching step and a passivation step alternate. The aim is to etch as anisotropically as possible, ie direction-dependent, perpendicular to the wafer surface.
  • sulfur hexafluoride SF6
  • carrier gas usually argon
  • an energy-rich high-frequency plasma is formed, with the SF6 producing a reactive gas (in plasma, SF6 + ions, activated SF6 molecules and fluorine-containing and oxygen radicals are formed).
  • a reactive gas in plasma, SF6 + ions, activated SF6 molecules and fluorine-containing and oxygen radicals are formed.
  • a chemical etching reaction isotropic on the substrate and a physical (anisotropic) material removal by means of argon ions are superimposed.
  • the process takes place at pressures of 50 Pa to 1 Pa, preferably in an RF plasma at 13.65 MHz, pressure range 10-50 Pa instead.
  • the etching process is stopped after a short time and a gas mixture of octaflourocyclobutane (C4F8) and argon is introduced.
  • the octafluorocyclobutane is activated as a plasma gas and the resulting fluorine-containing radicals and molecules form on the entire substrate a polymer-like passivation layer, ie both on the mask, as well as on the silicon and the vertical silicon sidewalls.
  • the passivation layer of the horizontal surfaces (trench bottom) is removed much faster by the directed physical component (ions) of the etching reaction than the layer on the sidewalls.
  • An essential feature of such a layer of black silicon on the back of the substrate is an increased absorption of incident visible light, by the formation of the aforementioned deep structure or Surface structure (the deep structure causes a gradual transition of the refractive index of the effective medium so that there is no sharp optical interface at which the light can be reflected) instead the light is "smoothly" guided into the material and hardly reflected, rendering the silicon black to appear).
  • the elevations and depressions of the surface structure can thus be produced (also with other substrates) by laser bombardment, by ion bombardment, in particular by reactive ion etching or reactive ion etching, and / or also by micromechanical chip removal machining of the back side of the substrate.
  • the elevations are needle-shaped.
  • the mean height of the elevations, the mean depth of the depressions and / or the mean extent of the elevations and / or the depressions perpendicular to the sensor plane is preferably in the range between 0.05 ⁇ m to 1 mm, preferably in the range from 0.1 pm to 200 pm, and more preferably in the range of 0.1 pm to 20 pm (ie, ultimately of the same order of magnitude as the lateral extent of the elevations and / or depressions in the sensor plane).
  • the aspect ratio a A / L from the aforementioned height, depth and / or extent and the average lateral extent of the elevations and / or depressions (which is also referred to below with the variable L) is preferably between 0.2 and 50, particularly preferably between 0.5 and 10.
  • the piezoelectric element of the piezoelectric sensor unit is preferably in the form of a piezoelectric thin layer formed.
  • This layer may consist of AlN or ZnO or contain this material.
  • the sensor unit preferably has a layer thickness in the range between 1 ⁇ m and 100 ⁇ m, preferably between 10 ⁇ m and 25 ⁇ m. As described above, the sensor unit can also consist of several subunits distributed over the layer plane, each of which has corresponding thin-film elements.
  • the piezoelectric sensor unit (or, in the case of several subunits each of these subunits) has two with the piezoelectric element for detecting and / or applying the electrical voltage connected electrical contacts.
  • the piezoelectric thin film is preferably sandwiched between these two electrical contacts and directly adjoins these electrical contacts.
  • the electrical contacts may be formed, for example, of copper.
  • the piezoelectric sensor unit or the corresponding sub-sensor units can be designed for emitting ultrasonic waves, for receiving ultrasonic waves or else combined for emitting and for receiving ultrasonic waves (transmitting and receiving unit).
  • the substrate with the / the sensor unit (s) formed thereon may be formed in sections as a thin membrane.
  • the ultrasonic sensor may be in the form of an ultrasonic probe be formed or integrated into such a probe.
  • trenches, depressions, holes, ... can be structured as elevations and depressions in the back side of the substrate, for example by reactive ion etching.
  • the depressions can for example have several 100 ⁇ m depth and be produced with a high aspect ratio (eg in the range from 2 to 50). This can be done by repeatedly alternating etching and passivation of the backside Substrate surface can be achieved. During etching, however, small deposits of the, passivation can remain on the ground and mask it. When the process is shifted to passivation, structures to be formed are formed which are not removed during the subsequent etching steps.
  • perpendicular (relative to the substrate plane) surfaces can arise there against which a polymer layer can deposit.
  • surveys for example, in the form of elongated silicon columns remain.
  • the reactive ion etching can be adjusted so that can form on 1 mm 2 million small needle-shaped columns.
  • the spatial structure of the backside of the substrate can also be changed by bombardment with extremely high-energy pulsed femtosecond lasers, resulting in a needle-shaped, deep-structured surface (eg needles with a mean length of 300 nm).
  • the processes are comparatively good and evenly reproducible.
  • Fig. 1 shows a section through an ultrasonic sensor according to the invention.
  • the back side 3 of a monocrystalline silicon wafer 1 is formed by reactive ion milling with one of a plurality of needle-shaped protrusions and depressions (see FIG. Fig. 2 ) comprehensive surface structure 4 provided.
  • the thickness of the wafer 1 here amounts to 500 ⁇ m, the depth of the depressions or the extent of the individual needle-shaped elevations A of the surface structure 4 on the back 3 of the substrate 1, that is to say the depth of the structures in the black silicon on the back 3 of the wafer 1 here 2 to 5 microns, and the lateral extent of these surveys (see. Fig. 2 ) is here 200 to 800 nm.
  • the individual elements of the electrical sensor unit 2 are subsequently applied to the front side 7 of the wafer opposite the rear side 3.
  • a here 1 to 2 microns thick insulating layer 8 of silicon oxide on the front side 7 of the wafer 1 is deposited.
  • a first electrode metallization or electrode layer 6 (here a 150 ⁇ m thick aluminum layer) is applied.
  • a piezoelectrically active thin film (piezoelectric layer 5) of A1N is coated.
  • ZnO can be used as a layer material.
  • the piezoelectric thin film here has a layer thickness of 5 to 25 microns.
  • the sensor unit 2 here comprises the elements 5, 6 and 9 (and depending on the view, the layer 8).
  • the following layer structure results from the rear side 3 with the surface structure 4 of the ultrasonic sensor towards the front side (electrical contact 9): back side 3 with surface structure 4, silicon wafer 1, insulation layer 8, first metal contact 6, piezoelectrically active thin layer 5 and second metal contact 9 ,
  • the sensor 1 to 9 shown can thus be placed on an external object 0 which is to be scanned or measured: in the piezoelectric sensor unit 2 of the ultrasonic sensor shown as a combined transmitting and receiving unit (the details of which are given to the person skilled in the art, for example, in accordance with FIG DE 10 2006 005 048 A1 is known) ultrasonic waves can be generated and coupled into the object O. The ultrasonic waves are reflected at interfaces in the object and the corresponding echo signals are detected and evaluated by the sensor unit 2.
  • Fig. 2 shows an example of a back 3 and a surface structure 4 of this page for a in Fig. 1 sketched ultrasonic sensor in an electron micrograph:
  • Fig. 2 left shows an electron micrograph at a magnification of 10,000, while
  • Fig. 2 right shows a higher magnification (magnification factor 50 000).
  • the individual needle-shaped elevations or the individual silicon needles of the black silicon formed on the rear side 3 of the silicon wafer 1 can easily be seen.
  • the average lateral distance L of two silicon needles here is about 2 to 5 microns, the average height A is here 10 to 20 microns, this corresponds to about 2 million needles per square millimeter.
  • a silicon absorber layer 1, 3, 4 for a piezoelectric sensor unit 2 or 2, 8 (the insulating layer 8 can be considered as part of the sensor unit 2) is thus on the silicon substrate 1 by means of the above-described processes on the bottom or the Back 3 applied a layer of black silicon.
  • the manufacturing process for the piezoelectric thin-film sensor unit 2, 8 After the deposition of the insulating layer 8 of silicon oxide, the first thin-film electrode metallization 6 is applied, followed by the active piezoelectric material 5. Finally This is followed by the application of the second thin-film electrode metallization 9.
  • the present invention it is thus possible to scatter the interfering ultrasonic echoes from the carrier substrate 1 for the layer sensor elements 2 in such a way that they have no great influence on the echo, which is from the medium or object coupled to the active surface (front side of the ultrasonic sensor) O returns.
  • the active surface front side of the ultrasonic sensor
  • much broader fields of application for piezoelectric ultrasonic thin-film sensors are possible. Since one no longer has to apply the sensor directly to the measurement object, does not necessarily have to realize air as a backside boundary layer and no longer has to use very thick carrier substrates, high-frequency ultrasound probes can also be produced without further ado with the present invention.
  • An essential core of the invention is thus the production of the electroacoustic absorber layer on the back side of a carrier substrate by a strongly fissured surface with feature widths of, for example, less than 1 ⁇ m and with feature depths of, for example, several 100 nm, in which case a piezoelectric sensor unit is located on the opposite front side or surface lies in thin-film technology.
  • Ultrasonic sensors or thin-layer ultrasonic sensors according to the invention can be implemented in the non-destructive testing of thin layers, in quality assurance, in process monitoring or, in general, for any ultrasonic, sensor tasks.
  • high-frequency ultrasonic probes can also be realized according to the invention.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Transducers For Ultrasonic Waves (AREA)
  • Investigating Or Analyzing Materials By The Use Of Ultrasonic Waves (AREA)
  • Ultra Sonic Daignosis Equipment (AREA)
EP10000489.4A 2010-01-19 2010-01-19 Ultraschallsensor zum Erfassen und/ oder Abtasten von Objekten und entsprechendes Herstellungsverfahren Active EP2348503B1 (de)

Priority Applications (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP10000489.4A EP2348503B1 (de) 2010-01-19 2010-01-19 Ultraschallsensor zum Erfassen und/ oder Abtasten von Objekten und entsprechendes Herstellungsverfahren
US12/987,514 US8468892B2 (en) 2010-01-19 2011-01-10 Ultrasonic sensor for detecting and/or scanning objects
JP2011004790A JP5734673B2 (ja) 2010-01-19 2011-01-13 物体を検出及び／又はスキャンするための超音波センサ

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP10000489.4A EP2348503B1 (de) 2010-01-19 2010-01-19 Ultraschallsensor zum Erfassen und/ oder Abtasten von Objekten und entsprechendes Herstellungsverfahren

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP2348503A1 EP2348503A1 (de) 2011-07-27
EP2348503B1 true EP2348503B1 (de) 2015-03-11

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EP (1) EP2348503B1 (ja)
JP (1) JP5734673B2 (ja)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
TWI454968B (zh) 2012-12-24 2014-10-01 Ind Tech Res Inst 三維互動裝置及其操控方法
CN103111410A (zh) * 2013-01-25 2013-05-22 常州波速传感器有限公司 新型超声波传感器
CN108502841A (zh) * 2018-05-04 2018-09-07 李扬渊 一种能够实现超声波传感的电子设备及其制造方法
CN114106518A (zh) * 2021-10-28 2022-03-01 中广核检测技术有限公司 一种薄片式超声传感器

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US3826866A (en) * 1973-04-16 1974-07-30 Univ Leland Stanford Junior Method and system for acousto-electric scanning
FR2324061A1 (fr) * 1975-09-11 1977-04-08 Thomson Csf Dispositif de lecture acousto-electrique d'une image optique a une dimension
US4435984A (en) * 1980-04-21 1984-03-13 Southwest Research Institute Ultrasonic multiple-beam technique for detecting cracks in bimetallic or coarse-grained materials
JPS59225045A (ja) * 1983-06-07 1984-12-18 松下電器産業株式会社 超音波探触子
DE3483174D1 (de) * 1983-06-07 1990-10-18 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd Ultraschallsende mit einem absorbierenden traeger.
JPS6012899A (ja) * 1984-05-30 1985-01-23 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd 超音波探触子
JPH02216007A (ja) * 1989-02-17 1990-08-28 Toshiba Corp 超音波トランスジューサ
JPH03274899A (ja) * 1990-03-24 1991-12-05 Hitachi Ltd 超音波変換器
JPH04218765A (ja) * 1990-03-26 1992-08-10 Toshiba Corp 超音波プローブ
DE4241045C1 (de) 1992-12-05 1994-05-26 Bosch Gmbh Robert Verfahren zum anisotropen Ätzen von Silicium
DE4414081C1 (de) * 1994-04-22 1995-10-12 Sonident Anstalt Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Abtasten eines Ultraschallfeldes
JPH09116997A (ja) * 1995-10-23 1997-05-02 Hitachi Constr Mach Co Ltd 超音波探触子
US6942619B2 (en) * 2002-05-20 2005-09-13 Kohji Toda Ultrasound radiation device
JP4134911B2 (ja) * 2003-02-27 2008-08-20 株式会社村田製作所 超音波送受波器、及びその製造方法
JP4715236B2 (ja) 2005-03-01 2011-07-06 株式会社デンソー 超音波センサ装置

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
US20120013222A1 (en) 2012-01-19
JP5734673B2 (ja) 2015-06-17
JP2011169890A (ja) 2011-09-01
US8468892B2 (en) 2013-06-25
EP2348503A1 (de) 2011-07-27

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