Solid-state imaging device

Television – Special applications – With endoscope

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Reexamination Certificate

active

06567115

ABSTRACT:

RELATED APPLICATION DATA
The present application claims priority to Japanese Application No. P11-002094 filed Jan. 7, 1999, which application is incorporated herein by reference to the extent permitted by law.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a solid-state imaging device to be applied to an electronic endoscope or the like, particularly to a solid-state imaging device constituted so that a circuit board and electronic components mounted on the circuit board can be set in the projection area of a not-packaged solid-state imaging chip including a CCD and thereby, a solid-state imaging unit can be downsized and thus, the outside diameter of the front end of the electronic endoscope can be decreased.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various types of electronic endoscopes respectively using a solid-state imaging chip such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) as an imaging means and the like are proposed, of which the solid-state imaging chip is embedded in the front end of a tube inserted into the body of an endoscope. Therefore, a thinner and shorter tube front end is preferable in order to ease the pain of a patient. However, in order to decrease the tube in diameter and length, how the solid-state imaging chip can be downsized has been an important technical problem.
A conventional endoscope using a solid-state imaging chip is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,607,542 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 313970/1988).
FIG. 1
shows a composition of one example of the endoscope. Electronic components
41
and
42
are mounted on one plane (upper plane) and the other plane (lower plane) of a horizontally-set circuit board shown by symbol
40
. A not-packaged solid-state imaging chip
43
is perpendicularly combined with one plane of the front end of the circuit board
40
separately from the electronic component
41
. Moreover, an end of the circuit board
40
and a not-illustrated bonding pad provided in the front surface of the solid-state imaging chip
43
are electrically connected with each other by a bonding wire
44
. Furthermore, a signal cable
45
is connected to the rear end of the circuit board
40
.
Meanwhile, the front surface of the solid-state imaging chip
43
is airtightly covered with a cover glass
46
and optical lenses
48
,
49
, and
50
supported by a lens barrel
47
are arranged in front of the cover glass
46
so as to oppose the optical axis of the solid-state imaging chip
43
. Moreover, the above-mentioned respective components are covered with a sheath
51
and the space in the sheath
51
is filled with a molding material
52
.
With the endoscope constituted as mentioned above, however, because the end surface of the circuit board
40
is connected with the solid-state imaging chip
43
by the bonding wire
44
, a space for bonding is required in the outside-diameter direction of the solid-state imaging chip
43
. Therefore, it cannot be avoided that the outside diameter of the front end of the endoscope increases by a value equivalent to the size of the space and this prevents the diameter from decreasing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is implemented to solve the above problems and its object is to provide a solid-state imaging device capable of downsizing an imaging unit and thereby, further decreasing the diameter at the front end of an endoscope.
The present invention provides a solid-state imaging device comprising:
a not-packaged solid-state imaging chip;
a circuit board which is combined with the plane on the opposite side of the imaging plane of the solid-state imaging chip and on which electronic components are mounted; and
a connection means constituted of a film on which a wiring pattern for electrically connecting a bonding pad provided in the outer peripheral portion of the imaging plane of the solid-state imaging chip with a bonding pad provided in the circuit board is formed; wherein
the electronic components are mounted on the stepped portion of the circuit board formed lower than the outline of said solid-state imaging chip and a signal cable is connected to an end of said stepped portion so that said electronic components mounted on said circuit board and the terminal portion of the cable are arranged in the projection area of said solid-state imaging chip.
Moreover, the present invention provides another solid-state imaging device comprising:
a not-packaged solid-state imaging chip;
a circuit board which is combined with the plane on the opposite side of the imaging plane of the solid-state imaging chip and on which electronic components are mounted; and
a connection means constituted of a bonding wire for electrically connecting a bonding pad provided in the outer peripheral portion of the imaging plane of said solid-state imaging chip with a bonding pad provided in the circuit board; wherein
said electronic components are mounted on the stepped portion of the circuit board formed lower than the outline of said solid-state imaging chip and a signal cable is connected to an end of said stepped portion so that said electronic components mounted on said circuit board and the terminal portion of the cable are arranged in the projection area of said solid-state imaging chip.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4786965 (1988-11-01), Yabe
patent: 4831456 (1989-05-01), Takamura
patent: 4868644 (1989-09-01), Yabe et al.
patent: 4918521 (1990-04-01), Yabe et al.
patent: 5220198 (1993-06-01), Tsuji

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Solid-state imaging device does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Solid-state imaging device, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Solid-state imaging device will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3022094

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.