Development of packaging for MEMS inertial sensors

Development of MEMS inertial sensors and their packaging for high performance applications requires a balanced approach combining analyses with testing and measurements. There are too many unknown parameters, e.g., material properties, process conditions, and components/package interfaces, to rely solely on analyses during the development. Recent advances in optoelectronic laser interferometric microscope (OELIM) methodology offer a considerable promise for effective testing and measurements to facilitate optimization of packaging for advanced MEMS inertial sensors. Using OELIM methodology, sub-micron deformations of MEMS components and MEMS packages are readily measured with nanometer accuracy and very high spatial resolution over a range of operating conditions. This greatly facilitates characterization of dynamic and thermomechanical behavior of MEMS components, MEMS packages, and other complex material structures. in this paper, the OELIM methodology, which allows remote, noninvasive, full-field-of-view measurements of deformations in near real-time, is presented and its viability for the development of packaging for MEMS inertial sensors is discussed. These discussions are illustrated by representative results that have been obtained relating to improving the packaging for MEMS inertial sensors.