Ziptronix has unveiled a room temperature, foundry-based, wafer-scale method of hermetically encapsulating surface sensitive (MEMS and RF) devices using industry-standard tools and materials.
The process integrates both MEMS and IC technologies without the complex packaging, testing, and assembly that can account for up to 80% of the cost of MEMS devices, according to Ziptronix ceo Doug Milner.
“Because of their surface sensitive nature, MEMS require special assembly and packaging, creating significant cost disadvantages versus traditional ICs,” Milner explained.
“Now semiconductor foundries, MEMS manufacturers and IDMs can cost-effectively assemble, package and test the devices in-house.”
“This paves the way for volume commercialisation of MEMs and for streamlining their integration with electronic systems,” Milner said.
The process itself operates at room temperature to produce covalent bonding between conventional semiconductor materials or other materials used in MEMS packaging.
Epoxies or other adhesives are not required to create the bond, and surface activation is fully compatible with the normal fab environment.
Bonding activation is typically dual-sided, but can be confined to a single side to avoid conflicting with proprietary headspace (cavity) chemistries needed for optimum performance, Milner said.
Surface activation (step 1) can precede bonding (step 2) by several hours without deterioration of the activated surfaces.
When active surfaces are bonded, the process occurs on contact without applied pressure or an electric field, facilitating high production throughput.
The result is low-cost, wafer-scale, hermetic encapsulation of MEMS and SAW filters that eliminates costly special handling and complex encapsulation of individual devices, Milner added.