Laser-assisted sealing and testing for ceramic packaging of MEMS devices

Author

Tao, Yi ; Malshe, Ajay P. ; Brown, Wiliam D. ; Dereus, Dana R. ; Cunningham, Shawn

Author_Institution

High Density Electron. Center (HiDEC), Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA

Volume

26

Issue

3

fYear

2003

Firstpage

283

Lastpage

288

Abstract

In this work, a CO₂ laser-assisted silicon lid sealing process, utilizing Au80/Sn20 solder, for encapsulating gas breakdown test micro-electro-mechanical structures (MEMS) in a ceramic quad flatpack (CQFP) was studied. Wire bonded MEMS dies were sealed into CQFPs under various gas media, such as air, nitrogen, helium and vacuum. The gas breakdown test results showed a significantly higher breakdown voltage for vacuum packaged parts compared to those packaged in other various gas environments. Hermeticity testing according to MIL-STD-883E showed that the leak rate of the package was below 10^-8 atm cc/s. The bonding was uniform and the bonding strength is believed to be comparable to the tensile strength of Au80/Sn20 solder.

Keywords

ceramic packaging; encapsulation; laser materials processing; lead bonding; micromechanical devices; microswitches; microwave switches; reflow soldering; seals (stoppers); semiconductor device breakdown; semiconductor device packaging; semiconductor device testing; Au80/Sn20 solder; AuSn; CO₂ laser-assisted silicon lid sealing process; MEMS devices; MIL-STD-883E; RF switches; air; bonding strength; breakdown voltage; ceramic packaging; ceramic quad flatpack; encapsulation; gas breakdown test micro-electro-mechanical structures; gas breakdown test results; helium; hermeticity testing; laser-assisted sealing; nitrogen; package leak rate; tensile strength; vacuum packaged parts; wire bonded MEMS dies; Bonding; Ceramics; Electric breakdown; Gas lasers; Microelectromechanical devices; Micromechanical devices; Packaging; Silicon; Testing; Vacuum breakdown;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Advanced Packaging, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1521-3323

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TADVP.2003.817969

Filename

1236529