TEMPERATURE-SENSOR ASSEMBLY AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING A TEMPERATURE SENSOR ASSEMBLY

Abstract

A temperature-sensor assembly comprising at least one temperature sensor and at least one supply line, wherein the temperature sensor has at least one electrically insulating substrate with an upper side and an underside, wherein a temperature-sensor structure with at least one sensor-contact surface is formed at least on parts of the upper side, wherein the supply line has at least one supply-line contact surface, wherein the supply-line contact surface is connected to the sensor-contact surface at least in part by means of a first sinter layer.

Claims

1. A temperature-sensor assembly, comprising at least one temperature sensor and at least one supply line, wherein the temperature sensor comprises at least one electrically insulating substrate with an upper side and an underside, wherein a temperature-sensor structure with at least one sensor-contact surface is formed at least on parts of the upper side, wherein the supply line comprises at least one supply-line contact surface, wherein the supply-line contact surface is connected to the sensor-contact surface at least in part by means of a first sinter layer.

2. The temperature-sensor assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first sinter layer is formed from a first pre-applied sinter-paste layer, which is applied to the supply-line contact surface and/or the sensor-contact surface.

3. The temperature-sensor assembly according to claim 1, wherein the supply line is flexible.

4. The temperature-sensor assembly according to claim 1, wherein the supply line is formed from a metal strip and/or a metal wire with at least one flattened end and/or a metal-coated polymer substrate and/or a metal sheet, in particular a punched or lasered or etched metal sheet.

5. The temperature-sensor assembly according to claim 1, wherein the temperature-sensor structure is formed as a resistance element.

6. The temperature-sensor assembly according to claim 1, wherein the temperature-sensor structure and/or the sensor-contact surface comprises platinum material.

7. The temperature-sensor assembly according to claim 1, wherein at least one passivation layer which is formed at least on parts of the temperature-sensor structure and/or, preferably over the entire surface, on the upper side of the substrate.

8. The temperature-sensor assembly according to claim 7, wherein the passivation layer comprises a polyimide material and/or a glass material and/or a ceramic material and/or a glass-ceramic material.

9. The temperature-sensor assembly according to claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises a ceramic insulating material, in particular aluminum oxide and/or aluminum nitride and/or silicon nitride, and/or a glass sandwich material.

10. The temperature-sensor assembly according to claim 1, wherein a metallization layer is formed on the underside of the substrate and preferably comprises a silver material and/or a gold material and/or a metal alloy.

11. The temperature-sensor assembly according to claim 10, wherein a second sinter layer and/or a second sinter-paste layer is formed on the underside of the substrate or on the metallization layer.

12. The temperature-sensor assembly according to claim 11, wherein the second sinter layer is formed from a second pre-applied sinter-paste layer.

13. The temperature-sensor assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first sinter layer and/or the second sinter layer and/or the first pre-applied sinter-paste layer and/or the second pre-applied sinter-paste layer comprise(s) metal particles, in particular noble metal particles, particularly preferably silver particles and/or gold particles and/or platinum particles.

14. A method for producing a temperature-sensor assembly according to claim 1, comprising at least one temperature sensor and at least one supply line, the method comprising the steps of: providing a temperature sensor comprising at least one electrically insulating substrate with an upper side and an underside, wherein a temperature-sensor structure with at least one sensor-contact surface is formed at least on parts of the upper side; providing a supply line comprising at least one supply-line contact surface; applying a sinter paste to the sensor-contact surface and/or the supply-line contact surface; forming at least a first pre-applied sinter-paste layer; and connecting the supply line to the temperature sensor by forming a sinter layer through a sintering process.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein: applying a sinter paste at least to parts of the underside of the substrate or of a metallization layer of the substrate; forming a second pre-applied sinter-paste layer; and connecting the temperature sensor by means of pressure sintering with the second pre-applied sinter-paste layer to a further component.

Description

[0071] In the drawings:

[0072] FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a temperature-sensor assembly according to the invention;

[0073] FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of a temperature-sensor assembly according to the invention; and

[0074] FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of a temperature-sensor assembly according to the invention.

[0075] In the following, the same reference signs are used for identical and identically acting components.

[0076] FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a temperature-sensor assembly 1 according to the invention. Said temperature-sensor assembly essentially comprises a temperature sensor 2 and at least one supply line 3. The temperature sensor 2 comprises an electrically insulating substrate 4 with an upper side 5 and an underside 6. A temperature-sensor structure 7 is formed at least on parts of the upper side 5 of the substrate 4.

[0077] Two sensor-contact surfaces 8 can likewise be seen. The temperature-sensor structure 7 and the sensor-contact surfaces 8 are preferably formed from the same material. Particularly preferably, they are formed from a platinum material.

[0078] The supply line 3 is flexible. In the example shown, the supply line 3 is formed from a flat metal strip. It is possible for the supply line 3 to be formed from a metal-coated polymer substrate. The front end of the supply line 3 comprises a supply-line contact surface 9. The supply-line contact surface 9 is preferably the section of the supply line 3 that is to be connected to the sensor-contact surface 8. One of the sensor-contact surfaces 8 is connected to the illustrated supply-line contact surface 9 of the supply line 3 by means of a first sinter layer 10. FIG. 1 shows only one supply line 3. The further sensor-contact surface 8 is preferably likewise connected to a supply line 3 in a later method step (not shown). In this respect, a first pre-applied sinter-paste layer 13 is already formed. The difference between the first sinter layer 10 and the first pre-applied sinter-paste layer 13 is that the first pre-applied sinter-paste layer 13 has residual reactivity in order to enable a connection to the supply line 3, in particular the supply-line contact surface 9. Once the sintering process is complete, a first sinter layer 10 is formed, as is already shown in FIG. 1.

[0079] In the example shown, the temperature sensor 2 comprises a metallization layer on the underside 6 of the substrate 4. The metallization layer 11 preferably comprises a silver material and/or a gold material and/or a metal alloy. A second pre-applied sinter-paste layer 12 is in turn applied to the metallization layer 11. This second pre-applied sinter-paste layer 12 is used to connect the temperature-sensor assembly 1 to a further component, in particular to a component carrier.

[0080] The temperature-sensor assembly 1 shown can be transported in this form as an intermediate product. For this purpose, a further supply line 3 could be applied to the first pre-applied sinter-paste layer 13.

[0081] In this form, the intermediate product can be transported to a customer. Since the layer 12 is a pre-applied sinter-paste layer, which has residual reactivity, the temperature-sensor assembly 1 can be easily connected to a further component (not shown), in particular to a component carrier.

[0082] Furthermore, it is possible for the supply line 3 to likewise comprise a supply-line contact surface on the second end (not shown). This further supply-line contact surface can already comprise a pre-applied sinter-paste layer. Furthermore, it is possible for the further end of the supply line to be connected to further components by means of a different connection technique.

[0083] The embodiment according to FIG. 2 essentially comprises the same elements or layers as have already been explained in connection with the embodiment according to FIG. 1.

[0084] It can be seen that neither a metallization layer nor a pre-applied sinter-paste layer is however applied to the underside 6 of the substrate 4.

[0085] The temperature-sensor assembly 1 shown in FIG. 2 can also be transported as an intermediate product to a customer. The connection of the substrate 4 to a further component, in particular to a component carrier, can take place, for example, by means of an adhesive layer (not shown). Furthermore, it is possible for a pre-applied sinter-paste layer to be formed on the component to be connected, in particular on the component carrier, so that the underside 6 of the substrate 4 can be placed onto this pre-applied sinter-paste layer and subsequently connected thereto.

[0086] FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of a further embodiment of the temperature-sensor assembly 1.

[0087] The supply lines 3 are applied to a supply-line carrier 14. The supply-line carrier 14 can consist e.g. of a polyimide film, and the supply lines 3 can consist e.g.of strips of a printed Ag paste. The supply lines 3 are connected to the sensor-contact surfaces 8 via a first sinter layer 10.

[0088] The first sinter layer 10 is pre-applied to the supply lines 3 and/or the sensor-contact surfaces 8 prior to the joining.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0089] 1 Temperature-sensor assembly

[0090] 2 Temperature sensor

[0091] 3 Supply line

[0092] 4 Substrate

[0093] 5 Upper side

[0094] 6 Underside

[0095] 7 Temperature-sensor structure

[0096] 8 Sensor-contact surface

[0097] 9 Supply-line contact surface

[0098] 10 First sinter layer

[0099] 11 Metallization layer

[0100] 12 Second pre-applied sinter-paste layer

[0101] 13 First pre-applied sinter-paste layer

[0102] 14 Supply-line carrier