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US 11,231,334 B2Granted
Piezoresistive sensor for detecting a physical disturbance
AssigneeSentons Inc.
InventorsSamuel W. Sheng, Shih-Ming Shih, Yenyu Hsieh, Shirish A. Altekar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A sensor includes a plurality of piezoresistive elements and a plurality of electrical connection terminals. The plurality of piezoresistive elements are fabricated on a first side of a substrate. A second side of the substrate is configured to be coupled to an object where a physical disturbance is to be detected. A plurality of electrical connection terminals are coupled to the first side of the substrate.
Claims20
A sensor, comprising:
- a plurality of piezoresistive elements fabricated on a first side of a semiconductor substrate, wherein the semiconductor substrate has a thickness that is less than 300 microns, and a second side of the semiconductor substrate is configured to be coupled to an object where a physical disturbance is to be detected;
- and
- a plurality of electrical connection terminals coupled to the first side of the semiconductor substrate that is opposite the second side of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the second side is configured to face towards an internal sidewall of a housing of an electronic device where the physical disturbance is to be detected;
- wherein at least a first portion of the plurality of electrical connection terminals is configured to be connected to a signal transmitter and receive from the signal transmitter an encoded signal that has been generated by modulating a carrier signal using a binary sequence;
- wherein at least a second portion of the plurality of electrical connection terminals is configured to be connected to a signal receiver and provide an output version of the encoded signal encoding the binary sequence for correlation in detecting the physical disturbance;
- and
- wherein the plurality of piezoresistive elements have been fabricated on the first side of the semiconductor substrate together as a single chip configured to allow the semiconductor substrate to physically bend to detect the physical disturbance, and wherein the single chip is configured to be coupled to the internal sidewall of the housing of the electronic device along with a plurality of other instances of other chips that each include a different set of piezoresistive elements to detect the physical disturbance on the housing of the electronic device, and wherein the single chip and another chip included in the plurality of other instances of other chips are connected to different signal transmitters providing different encoded signals via different independent electrical connections but are connected to the same signal receiver via a shared electrical connection.
4 more elements
A device, comprising:
- a plurality of piezoresistive elements fabricated on a first side of a semiconductor substrate, wherein a second side of the semiconductor substrate is configured to be coupled to an object wherein a physical disturbance is to be detected, and the semiconductor substrate has a reduced thickness that is less than 300 microns to allow bending of the semiconductor substrate to detect the physical disturbance;
- and
- a plurality of electrical connection terminals coupled to the first side of the semiconductor substrate that is opposite the second side of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the second side is configured to face towards an internal sidewall of a housing of an electronic device where the physical disturbance is to be detected;
- wherein at least a first portion of the plurality of electrical connection terminals is configured to be connected to a signal transmitter and receive from the signal transmitter an encoded signal that has been generated by modulating a carrier signal using a binary sequence;
- wherein at least a second portion of the plurality of electrical connection terminals is configured to be connected to a signal receiver and provide an output version of the encoded signal encoding the binary sequence for correlation in detecting the physical disturbance;
- and
- wherein the plurality of piezoresistive elements have been fabricated on the first side of the semiconductor substrate together as a single chip, and wherein the single chip is configured to be coupled to the internal sidewall of the housing of the electronic device along with a plurality of other instances of other chips that each include a different set of piezoresistive elements to detect the physical disturbance on the housing of the electronic device, and wherein the single chip and another chip included in the plurality of other instances of other chips are connected to different signal transmitters providing different encoded signals via different independent electrical connections but are connected to the same signal receiver via a shared electrical connection.
4 more elements
A device, comprising:
- a plurality of piezoresistive elements fabricated on a first side of a semiconductor substrate, wherein a second side of the semiconductor substrate is configured to be coupled to an object where a physical disturbance is to be detected;
- and
- a plurality of electrical connection terminals coupled to the first side of the semiconductor substrate that is opposite the second side of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the second side is configured to face towards an internal sidewall of a housing of an electronic device where the physical disturbance is to be detected;
- wherein at least a first portion of the plurality of electrical connection terminals is configured to be connected to a signal transmitter and receive from the signal transmitter an encoded signal that has been generated by modulating a carrier signal using a binary sequence;
- wherein at least a second portion of the plurality of electrical connection terminals is configured to be connected to a signal receiver and provide an output version of the encoded signal encoding the binary sequence for correlation in detecting the physical disturbance;
- and
- wherein the plurality of piezoresistive elements have been fabricated on the first side of the semiconductor substrate together as a single chip configured to allow the semiconductor substrate to physically bend to detect the physical disturbance, and wherein the single chip is configured to be coupled to the internal sidewall of the housing of the electronic device along with a plurality of other instances of other chips that each include a different set of piezoresistive elements to detect the physical disturbance on the housing of the electronic device, and wherein the single chip and another chip included in the plurality of other instances of other chips are connected to different signal transmitters providing different encoded signals via different independent electrical connections but are connected to the same signal receiver via a shared electrical connection.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.