Patent ID: 7300816

Claim:
A method of making a flexible fingerprint sensor interconnect apparatus, comprising: providing a multilayer flexible substrate having conductive traces that lead to a connector at one end of said substrate for connecting the flexible fingerprint sensor interconnect apparatus to an external circuit; mounting a fingerprint sensor chip on an end portion of the multilayer flexible substrate distal from said connector end, the fingerprint sensor chip having a sensor surface and sensor contacts; electrically coupling the sensor contacts to the conductive traces; and coupling a rigid molded package to a portion of the bottom of the multilayer flexible substrate below the fingerprint sensor chip such that at least a portion of the multilayer flexible substrate is positioned between the fingerprint sensor and the molded package, such that an open top cavity exposing the sensor surface of the fingerprint sensor for access by a user is formed, and such that the portion of said fingerprint sensor interconnect apparatus proximate said molded package is rigid, and the portion of said fingerprint sensor interconnect apparatus distal from said molded package is flexible.