{
  "patent_number": "US 9055681",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "Attaching Flexible Circuits with Light Sensors to a Chip",
  "original_title": "Method for attaching a flexible structure to a device and a device having a flexible structure",
  "summary": "This patent describes a method and device for attaching a bendable circuit, which includes light-sensing or light-emitting components, onto a main chip, allowing light to pass through a hole in the chip to reach the flexible part.",
  "what_it_does": "The patent describes a device where a bendable component, called a \"flexible structure\" (Claim 1), is precisely connected to a main \"processed substrate\" (like a computer chip) using a \"patterned bonding layer\" (Claim 1). This flexible structure contains special light-sensitive or light-emitting parts, known as \"optoelectronic elements,\" which are connected to \"contact elements\" on the flexible material. A key feature is a \"via,\" which is a carefully placed hole that goes through both the main substrate and the flexible structure. This via allows light to either enter or exit the optoelectronic element (Claim 1). For example, this could be used to connect a flexible optical sensor to a rigid processor chip, where the sensor needs to receive light from underneath the chip.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Devices where the flexible structure does not extend beyond the main substrate (Claim 1).",
    "Devices without a \"via\" (a hole) that passes through both the substrate and the flexible structure (Claim 1).",
    "Devices where the optoelectronic element is not specifically arranged to transmit or receive light through the via (Claim 1).",
    "Attachment methods that do not use a \"patterned bonding layer\" between the substrate and the flexible structure (Claim 1).",
    "Devices where the flexible structure does not include a contact element for the optoelectronic element (Claim 1)."
  ],
  "filed": "2012-07-15",
  "granted": "2015-06-09",
  "expires": "2032-07-15",
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "International Business Machines",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/international-business-machines",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Michel Despont",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/michel-despont"
    },
    {
      "name": "Stefano Sergio Oggioni",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/stefano-sergio-oggioni"
    },
    {
      "name": "Bert Jan Offrein",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/bert-jan-offrein"
    },
    {
      "name": "Laurent Dellmann",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/laurent-dellmann"
    },
    {
      "name": "Roger Dangel",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/roger-dangel"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 0,
  "tags": [
    "consumer_electronics",
    "semiconductors",
    "telecommunications",
    "materials",
    "biotech"
  ],
  "abstract": "Techniques for producing a flexible structure attached to a device. One embodiment includes the steps of providing a first substrate, providing a second substrate with a releasably attached flexible structure, providing a bonding layer on at least one of the first substrate and the flexible structure, adjoining the first and second substrate such that the flexible structure is attached at the first substrate by means of the bonding layer, and detaching the second substrate in such a way that the flexible structure remains on the first substrate.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9055681/method-for-attaching-a-flexible-structure-to-a-device-and-a-device-having-a-flex",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9055681/method-for-attaching-a-flexible-structure-to-a-device-and-a-device-having-a-flex/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US9055681",
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}