The Design and Fabrication of Large-Area Under-Screen Fingerprint Sensors with Optimized Aperture and Microlens Structures

Sensors (Basel). 2023 Oct 26;23(21):8731. doi: 10.3390/s23218731.

Abstract

In this paper, we designed and fabricated an optical filter structure applied to the FoD (Fingerprint on Display) technology of the smartphone, which contains the microlens array, black matrix, and photodetector to recognize the fingerprint on a full touchscreen. First, we used optical ray tracing software, ZEMAX, to simulate a smartphone with FoD and a touching finger. We then further discussed how the aperture and microlens influence the fingerprint image in this design. Through numerical analysis and process constraint adjustment to optimize the structural design, we determined that a modulation transfer function (MTF) of 60.8% can be obtained when the thickness of the black matrix is 4 μm, allowing successful manufacturing using photolithography process technology. Finally, we used this filter element to take fingerprint images. After image processing, a clearly visible fingerprint pattern was successfully captured.

Keywords: absorbance; black matrix; block layer; fingerprint on display; ray tracing.