Patent Publication Number: US-9905548-B2

Title: Optical module integrated package

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a Divisional of application Ser. No. 14/337,721, filed on 22 Jul. 2014, which was issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,449,955 on 20 Sep. 2016, for which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. § 120; and this application claims priority of Application No. 103112030 filed in Taiwan on 31 Mar. 2014 under 35 U.S.C. § 119, the entire contents of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to semiconductor packaging technology and more particularly, to an optical module integrated package, which not only reduces the packaging cost and improves the yield but also enhances optical recognition accuracy. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     In order to prevent the touch panel from being inadvertently touched or to save power consumption, a handheld electronic device (such as smart phone) is generally equipped with a proximity optical sensor module so that when the handheld electronic device approaches the surface of an object (for example, the face of a person), the proximity optical sensor will be induced to run a partial power-down operation. The principle of operation of this proximity optical sensor module is the use of a light-emitting chip to emit a light source toward a medium (the face of a person), and a light-receiving chip to receive reflected light from the medium and to convert received light signal into a corresponding electronic signal for follow-up processing. 
     According to conventional optical module packaging techniques, the light-emitting chip, the light-receiving chip and the other auxiliary passive component are separately packaged and then mounted in a common substrate. This manufacturing method of separately packaging individual components and then gathering the packaged components greatly increases the manufacturing cost. Further, conventional optical modules do not have a light focusing component. Thus, when the light beam emitted by the light-emitting chip falls upon an uneven surface of an object, the light-receiving chip will be unable to accurately receive the reflected light beam, affecting the subsequent interpretation. 
     In conclusion, the conventional optical modules have the aforesaid drawbacks and need to be improved. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is the main object of the present invention to provide an optical module integrated package, which not only reduces the packaging cost and improves the yield but also enhances optical recognition accuracy. 
     To achieve this and other objects of the present invention, an optical module integrated package in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention comprises a substrate defining a light-receiving region, a light-receiving chip mounted in the light-receiving region of the substrate, an electronic component mounted in the substrate, a cover mounted on the substrate and having a light-receiving hole disposed above and aimed at the light-receiving chip, and a lens fixedly mounted in the cover and positioned in the light-receiving hole. 
     Preferably, the electronic component is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). 
     Preferably, the cover comprises an accommodation chamber in communication with the light-receiving hole, and the lens is disposed in an inner side of the accommodation chamber. 
     Preferably, the lens is selected from the group of planar lenses, concave lenses and convex lenses. 
     Preferably, the light-receiving chip or the electronic component is mounted in the substrate using surface mounting technology. 
     Preferably, the light-receiving chip or the electronic component is mounted in the substrate using wire bond technology. 
     Preferably, the lens is selectively mounted in the cover by an adhesive bonding technique or injection molding technique. 
     To achieve this and other objects of the present invention, an optical module integrated package in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention comprises a substrate defining a light-receiving region and a light-emitting region, a light-receiving chip mounted in the light-receiving region of the substrate, a light-emitting chip mounted in the light-emitting region of the substrate, a cover mounted on the substrate, which comprises a light-emitting hole, a light-receiving hole, a first accommodation chamber, a second accommodation chamber and a partition wall separating the first accommodation chamber and the second accommodation chamber, the light-emitting hole and the light-receiving hole being respectively disposed above the light-emitting chip and the light-receiving chip, the first accommodation chamber and the second accommodation chamber being respectively disposed in communication with the light-receiving hole and the light-emitting hole, and two lenses respective mounted in the first accommodation chamber and second accommodation chamber of the cover and respectively positioned above the light-receiving hole and the light-emitting hole. 
     Preferably, the two lenses are selected from the group of planar lenses, concave lenses and convex lenses. 
     Preferably, the lenses are fixedly mounted in the cover. 
     Preferably, one lens is fixedly mounted in the cover, and the other lens is injection-molded on a light-emitting surface of the light-emitting chip. 
     Preferably, the optical module integrated package further comprises an electronic component mounted in the substrate. 
     Preferably, the light-emitting chip, the light-receiving chip and the electronic component are bonded to the substrate using surface mounting technology. 
     Preferably, the light-emitting chip, the light-receiving chip and the electronic component are bonded to the substrate using wire bond technology. 
     Preferably, at least one lens is mounted in the cover by adhesive bonding or injection molding, and the lens is selectively made of glass or plastics. 
     Preferably, the lens comprises a filter layer coated on a surface thereof. 
     Preferably, the cover is a one piece member selectively made of metal or plastics. 
     Thus, the optical module integrated package not only have the chip and the electronic component integrated therein to reduce the packaging cost and to improve the yield but also provide a light filtering, focusing or diffusing effect to enhance optical recognition accuracy. 
     Other advantages and features of the present invention will be fully understood by reference to the following specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference signs denote like components of structure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is schematic sectional view of an optical module integrated package in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, illustrating a planar lens fixedly mounted inside a cover. 
         FIG. 2  is a sectional view of an alternate form of the optical module integrated package in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention, illustrating a convex lens used. 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional view of another alternate form of the optical module integrated package in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention, illustrating a concave lens used. 
         FIG. 4  is a sectional view of an optical module integrated package in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, illustrating one lens mounted in a first accommodation chamber above a light-receiving chip and a second lens disposed above a light-emitting chip. 
         FIG. 5  is a sectional view of an alternate form of the optical module integrated package in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, illustrating two lenses respectively mounted in a first accommodation chamber and a second accommodation chamber and respectively disposed above a light-receiving chip and a light-emitting chip. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , an optical module integrated package  10  in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention is shown. The optical module integrated package  10  comprises a substrate  20 , a light-receiving chip  30 , an electronic component  40 , a cover  50  and a lens  60 . 
     The substrate  20  defines a light-receiving region  21 . Further, in order to reduce the material cost, the substrate  20  can be a non-ceramic substrate made of bismaleimide triazine (BT). 
     The light-receiving chip  30  is mounted in the light-receiving region  21  of the substrate  20  for receiving external light. 
     The electronic component  40  is installed in the substrate  20 . In order to meet the demand in the function of different products, the electronic component  40  can be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or any other component having power-saving features. 
     The cover  50  is a one piece member made of metal or plastics and mounted on the substrate  20 , comprising a light-receiving hole  51  and an accommodation chamber  53 . The light-receiving hole  51  is disposed above and aimed at the light-receiving chip  30 . The accommodation chamber  53  is kept in communication with the light-receiving hole  51  for enabling outside light to pass through the light-receiving hole  51  to the light-receiving chip  30  and to be received by the light-receiving chip  30 . 
     The lens  60  is fixedly mounted in the cover  50  and positioned in the light-receiving hole  51 . In this first embodiment, the lens  60  can be a planar lens, concave lens or convex lens. Further, the lens  60  can be configured to provide any of a variety of curvatures to fit different requirements from different clients, improving the efficiency of the transfer of external light source to the light-receiving chip  30 . Alternatively, the lens  60  can be coated with a filter layer  61  on the surface thereof for wavelength filtering. With respect to the mounting of the lens  60 , the lens  60  can be bonded to an inner side in the accommodation chamber  53  of the cover  50  with an adhesive. Alternatively, the lens  60  can be embedded in the cover  50  using an injection molding technique. Because the chip and the lens  60  are separately made and because the lens  60  is not directly formed on the chip by compression molding, the fabrication of the lens  60  does not affect the overall yield of the package. This will help reduce the development cost, and can enhance the yield of the product. 
     Further, in the first embodiment of the present invention, the electrical connection of the package is: fixedly mounting the light-receiving chip  30  and the electronic component  40  in the substrate  20 , and then employing a wire bonding technique to electrically connect the light-receiving chip  30  and the electronic component  40  and the substrate  20 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , an optical module integrated package  10 ′ in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention is shown. As illustrated, the optical module integrated package  10 ′ comprises a substrate  20 , a light-receiving chip  30 , a light-emitting hip  70 , an electronic component  40 , a cover  50  and at least one lens  60 . This second embodiment is substantially similar to the aforesaid first embodiment with the exception that the substrate  20  defines a light-receiving region  21  and a light-emitting region  23 ; the light-emitting chip  70  is mounted in the light-emitting region  23 ; the cover  50  comprises a light-emitting hole  55  disposed above the light-emitting chip  70  for enabling the emitted light from the light-emitting chip  70  to go to the outside in one direction without causing interference with the light-receiving operation of the light-receiving chip  30 ; a partition wall  57  is provided to divide the inside space of the cover  50  into a first accommodation chamber  531  in communication with the light-receiving hole  51  and a second accommodation chamber  533  in communication with the light-emitting hole  55 ; the light-receiving chip  30  is disposed in the first accommodation chamber  531 ; the light-emitting chip  70  and the electronic component  40  are disposed in the second accommodation chamber  533 . Thus, the light emitted by the light-emitting chip  70  goes through the light-emitting hole  55  to the surface of an external object and is then reflected by the external object onto the light-receiving hole  51  and received by the light-receiving chip  30 . The lateral light of the light-emitting chip  70  will be blocked by the partition wall  57  and prohibited from falling upon the light-receiving chip  30  to cause interference. 
     With respect to electrical connection between the light-receiving chip  30 , light-emitting chip  70  and electronic component  40  and the substrate  20 , the aforesaid wire bond technology can be employed. Alternatively, surface mounting technology can also be employed to install the light-receiving chip  30 , the light-emitting chip  70  and the electronic component  40  in the substrate  20 . 
     With respect to the design of the lenses  60 , as shown in  FIG. 4 , one lens  60  is mounted in the light-receiving hole  51  of the cover  50  at an inner side of the first accommodation chamber  531  and right above the light-receiving chip  30 ; the other lens  60  is mounted on the top surface of the light-emitting chip  70 . Alternatively, as shown in  FIG. 5 , the two lenses  60  are respectively mounted in the light-receiving hole  51  and the light-emitting hole  55  at respective inner sides of the first and second accommodation chambers  531 ; 533 , and respectively disposed above the light-receiving chip  30  and the light-emitting chip  70 . Thus, the lenses  60  are locate at different locations and can be selected from the group of concave lenses, convex lenses and planar lenses. Either in light emitting or receiving operation, the performance of the optical module integrated packages  10 ; 10 ′ can easily be adjusted to meet different application requirements. Further, because the lens  60  provides a light filtering, focusing or diffusing effect, it enhances optical recognition accuracy. 
     In conclusion, the optical module integrated package of the invention has the light-emitting chip, the light-receiving chip and the electronic component integrated in the package to reduce the packaging cost and to improve the yield of the product. Further, the lens provides a light filtering, focusing or diffusing effect to enhance optical recognition accuracy. 
     Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.