Wafer Level Vacuum Packaging of MEMS-Based Uncooled Infrared Sensors

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2024-08-01
Demirhan Aydin, Gulsah
Akar, Orhan Sevket
Akın, Tayfun
This paper introduces a cost-effective, high-performance approach to achieving wafer level vacuum packaging (WLVP) for MEMS-based uncooled infrared sensors. Reliable and hermetic packages for MEMS devices are achieved using a cap wafer that is formed using two silicon wafers, where one wafer has precise grating/moth-eye structures on both sides of a double-sided polished wafer for improved transmission of over 80% in the long-wave infrared (LWIR) wavelength region without the need for an AR coating, while the other wafer is used to form a cavity. The two wafers are bonded using Au-In transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding at low temperature to form the cap wafer, which is then bondelectrical and Electronics d to the sensor wafer using glass frit bonding at high temperature to activate the getter inside the cavity region. The bond quality is assessed using three methods, including He-leak tests, cap deflection, and Pirani vacuum gauges. Hermeticity is confirmed through He-leak tests according to MIL-STD 883, yielding values as low as 0.1 × 10−9 atm·cc/s. The average shear strength is measured as 23.38 MPa. The package pressure varies from 133–533 Pa without the getter usage to as low as 0.13 Pa with the getter usage.
Micromachines
Citation Formats
G. Demirhan Aydin, O. S. Akar, and T. Akın, “Wafer Level Vacuum Packaging of MEMS-Based Uncooled Infrared Sensors,” Micromachines, vol. 15, no. 8, pp. 0–0, 2024, Accessed: 00, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/111262.