Advanced Technologies from SUSS MicroTec And SAESR Getters Extend Wafer-level Packaged MEMS Lifetime

Scottsdale, AZ -- The SAES Getters Group and SUSS MicroTec presented their technologies for wafer-level packaging applications to the MEMS industry community present at the MEMS Executive Congress (November 5 -7, 2006 Scottsdale, Arizona, USA).

SUSS MicroTec's M-Lock system provides ultra-clean, low-moisture and low-organics environment for vacuum and inert gas wafer bonding. Suitable for high-performance and high-reliability MEMS devices with on-chip getters, such as silicon gyros, resonators, RF switches, display devices, infrared sensors and microbolometers, M-Lock maintains high vacuum in the bonder chamber at all times by means of a secondary load lock chamber and also by heating the vacuum chamber walls to reduce the effect of outgassing during wafer bonding.

PaGeWafer has been specifically engineered by SAES Getters to guarantee long term stability to vacuum or to inert gas atmosphere in wafer-to-wafer hermetically bonded MEMS devices. It consists of a wafer with a patterned getter film, a few micron thick, that is placed onto specific cavities, defined in shape and depth according to customer requirements. By acting as the cap wafer of the MEMS package, PaGeWafer provides maximized sorption of all active gases like H2O, O2, CO, CO2, N2 and H2, thus increasing the device reliability and lifetime.

"SAES Getters is extremely pleased with SUSS' introduction of the M-LockTM system for MEMS chip fabrication, since this technology ensures ultra-clean bonding conditions and can therefore support the further spread of wafer-level packaged MEMS products", says Marco Moraja, Getters for MEMS Business Development Area Manager at SAES Getters. "As a consequence of ultra-clean bonding environments, PaGeWafer can completely deploy its gettering capacity inside MEMS devices, without any loss of this gettering capacity during the bonding process, and it can thus deliver the MEMS performance reliability and lifetime extension for which it has been designed", concluded Mr. Moraja.

"We look forward to working with SAES Getters, as a leader in thin film getters for MEMS, to optimize our wafer bonding processes for their materials technology and to make further machine improvements over time based on the M-LockTM platform", added Dr. Amir Mirza, International Product Manager for Wafer Bonders at SUSS MicroTec.

SOURCE: SUSS MicroTec