《Wafer-level vacuum packaging for MEMS》.pdf

Wafer-level vacuum packaging for MEMS R. Gooch,a) T. Schimert, W. McCardel, and B. Ritchey Raytheon Systems Company, MS 35, Dallas, Texas 75243 D. Gilmour and W. Koziarz Air Force Research Laboratory/IFTE, Rome, New York 13441-4505 Received 12 October 1998; accepted 26 April 1999 Vacuum packaging of high performance infrared IR MEMS uncooled detectors and arrays, inertial MEMS accelerometers and gyros, and radio frequency rf MEMS resonators is a key issue in the technology development path to low cost, high volume MEMS production. Wafer-level vacuum packaging transfers the packaging operation into the wafer fab. It is a product neutral enabling technology for commercialization of MEMS for home, industry, automotive, and environmental monitoring applications. 4 in. wafer-level vacuum packaging has been demonstrated using IR MEMS bolometers and results will be presented in this article. In addition to the wafer-level packaging results, vacuum package reliability results obtained on component-level ceramic vacuum packages will also be presented. © 1999 American Vacuum Society. S0734-21019921204-3 I. INTRODUCTION from ongoing testing of sealed wafer-level packages indicate package lifetimes of seven months with no degradation of Vacuum packaging of high performance infrared IR 1 package vacuum thus far. A 4 in. wafer-level vacuum pack- MEMS uncooled detectors and arrays, as well as, inertial age process with 78% seal yield across the w