Packaging Schemes for MEMS

Liwei Lin
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Co-Director, Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center
University of California at Berkeley

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 1

Presentation Outline
l MEMS Products & the Role of Packaging
l Microelectronics Packaging
l MEMS Packaging Issues
l MEMS Packaging Approaches
– Integrated microfabrication processes
– Water bonding processes
l Summary

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IC and MEMS Packaging

l IC Packaging
– well-developed (dicing, wire bonding ...)
– 30% to 95% of the whole manufacturing cost
l MEMS Packaging
– specially designed packaging processes
– difficult due to moving structures, chemicals ...
– the most expensive process in
micromachining

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 3

 Existing MEMS Products

Device Year Units Sale Comment

(M) (M)
Blood Pressure 1998 20 22 price drop, sale flat
Auto MAP 2000 52 400 price dropping
Auto Accelerom. 2002 100 ~400 price dropping
Auto Gyro 2002 20 ~200 newer market
Ink-Jet Head 2002 470 8,400 huge market
Disk-Drive Head 2002 1,500 12,000 huge market
Head Positioner 2002 400 ~800 new market
Displays 2000 1 300 High chip cost
Valves 2005 1~2 100 small market

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Example: MEMS Pressure Sensors
l Automobiles
– MAP
– Barometric pressure
– Fuel-tank pressure
– Turbo-boost pressure
– Tire pressure …
l Human body
– Blood pressure, Heart, brain, uterus …
– Typically on catheter or probe tip
l Industrial Applications
– Food processing, HVAC …
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Example: MEMS Accelerometer
l Automobiles
– Airbags, Side airbags,
Headlight leveling …
l Military
– Trajectory control,
Impact sensing …
l Consumer
– Joystick, virtual reality …
l Industrial
– Vibration monitoring such as bearing …
l Environmental - Seismic monitoring …
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 Current MEMS Companies
Company Products (principal) Micromachining
Lucas Novasensor Pressure (piezoresistive) bulk
Delphi(Delco) Pressure (piezoresistive) bulk
gyro (capacitive) surface
EG&G IC Sensor Pressure (piezoresistive) bulk
Foxboro/ICT Pressure (piezoresistive) bulk
Honeywell flow (thermal) bulk+surface
IR image (thermal-resis.) surface
Analog Device accelerometer (capacitive) surface
Motorola accelerometer (capacitive) surface
Robert Bosch accel. + gyro (capacitive) surface
Texas Instrument display (electrostatic) surface
OMM optical switch (electrostatic) surface
Redwood microsys. Valve (thermal) bulk
TiNi Alloy Valve (thermal) bulk + surface
6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 7
 MEMS Optical Switch Companies
Company Products (status)
Optical Micro-Machines (OMM) 2-D (16 x 16) - shipping
Sercalo 1-D and 2-D (4x4) - shipping
Onix 2-D (8x8) - magnetic
Agilent 2-D (32x32) - bubble
Nortel/Xros 3D (1152 x 1152) - patent
Lucent 3D (256x256)
Corning/Intellisense
JDS Uniphase/Cronos(MCNC) • C Speed
Tellium/Astarte • MEMX
Advanced Integrated Photonics (AIP) • Optical Switch
Transparent Optical MEMS • Nayna Networks
Integrated Micromachines Inc. (IMMI) • Litton Poly-Scientific
Boston Micromachines Corp. • Lolon
Calient Networks/Kionix • Light Connect
6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 8
 Summary – MEMS Market
l Today’s MEMS Market
– Pressure sensors
– Accelerometers
– Ink-jet printer heads
– Disk-drive heads
l Tomorrow’s High growth MEMS Market
– Yaw-rate sensors
– Displays
– Bioanalysis
– Optical Switch
– RF Filters
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 MEMS Device Cost Analysis
Die $0.45
Trimmed circuit on ceramic board $1.10
Board in plastic arterial line $10.00
Billed to patient $300.00
Vertical integration for greater profit !

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 10

 Microelectronics Packaging
l Electronic Package Hierarchy
– Chip
– Module (1st level)
– Card (2nd level)
– Board (3rd level)
– Gate (4th level)

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 Package Encapsulation
l Protection from corrosion, mechanical damage
l Moisture is one of the major sources of corrosion

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 Shumka and Piety, “Migrated-Gold Resistive Shorts in Microelectronics,”
13th Ann. Proc. Rel. Phys. Symp., pp.193-98, 1975

Example of Corrosion
l Migrated-gold resistive shorts in the presence of
moisture and chlorine

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 Hermetic Seal (MIL-STD-883)
l A seal that will indefinitely prevent the entry of
moisture and other contaminants into the cavity
– In practice such seals are non existent
– Smaller gas molecules will enter the cavity over time
by diffusion or permeation and reach equilibrium

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 14

 Water Penetration
l “Absence” of an explicit relationship between device
life and moisture level
l Hermetic packages probably have much lower leak rate
than the specifications allow (moisture absorbed on the
walls of leakage path …)

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Types of Hermetic Packaging

l The permeability to moisture of Glasses,

Ceramics and Metals is orders of
magnitude lower than plastic materials
– Metal package
• harshest conditions, 80% of all metal packages are
welded, with the remaining being soldered
– Ceramic package
• Solder glass seal by high-lead-content vitreous or
de-vitrifying glasses at 400oC
• Hard glass seal by high-melting borosilicate glass at
1100oC

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 Soldering and Brazing

l Soldering
– Tin-Lead solder (indium and
silver are sometimes added
to improve the fatigue
strength)
– Tin-Lead oxidizes easily and
should be stored in nitrogen
l Brazing
– Eutectic Au-Sn (80:20) at 280
- 350oC for stronger, more
corrosion-resistant seal and
the use of flux can be
avoided
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Welding
l Most popular method in high-reliability packages
l High-current pulses produce local heating 1000-1500oC
l Can accommodate greater deviations from flatness
l Electrode, e-beam and laser can be used as energy sources

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Glass Sealing
l Device passivation to against moisture and
contaminant
l Hermetic glass-to-metal seals or glass-ceramic seal
l Chemical inertness, oxidation resistance, electrical
insulation, impermeability to moisture and other
gasses, wide choice of thermal characteristics
l Disadvantages: low strength and brittleness
l Soft glass sealing are made by lead-zinc-borate
glasses below 420oC ->low water content, good
chemical durability, thermal expansion closely
matched to that of the ceramic
l Water is absorbed on glass network and may get
released into the sealed cavity
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MEMS Packaging Issues
l MEMS Accelerometer
– Example: Surface-
Micromachined
Accelerometers by
Analog Devices, Inc.
l Key Issues
– Free standing
microstructures
– Hermetic sealing
– Temperature sensitive
microelectronics ADXL50 by Analog Devices, Inc.

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 Example – Resonant Gyroscope

l MEMS Gyroscope
– Example: surface-
micromachined
vibration gyroscope by
Draper Lab
l Key Issues
– Free standing
microstructures
– Hermetic sealing
– Vacuum encapsulation
Draper’s vibration micro gyroscope
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 Example – Pressure Sensor

l Pressure Sensor
– Example: bulk-
micromachined
pressure sensor by
Motorola Inc.
l Key Issues
– Exposure to external
pressure source
– Housing for harsh
environment
– Interface coating
Motorola’s MEMS-based pressure sensor
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 Example – Optical MEMS
l Optical MEMS
– Example: surface-
micromachined DMD Projection
by Texas Instrument
Optics
l Key Issues
DMD
– Free standing
microstructures
– Hermetic sealing Color Projected
– Temperature sensitive Wheel Image
microelectronics Lamp
TI’s DMDTM Chip for Projection Display
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 Example – Microfluidics
l Microfluidics
– Example: diffusion-
based sensor by
Micronics Inc.
l Key Issues
– Micro-to-Macro
interconnector
– Good sealing
– Temperature sensitive
materials
Micronics Inc.’s T sensor
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 Example – BioMEMS
l BioMEMS
– Example: Lab-on-a-chip
by Caliper Inc.
l Key Issues
– Micro-to-Macro
interconnector
(capillary tubes?)
– Good sealing
– Temperature sensitive
materials
Caliper’s lab-on-a-chip

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 Example – RF MEMS
l MEMS Relay
– Example:
micromachined RF
relay by Omron with a
needle (1 billion
operation, 0.5 msec)
l Key Issues
– Free standing
microstructures
– Hermetic sealing
– Vacuum
encapsulation ? Omron’s MEMS RF relay
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 Wafer-Level Approach
l To adopt IC packaging
processes as much as
possible
l To protect MEMS
devices and follow IC
packaging processes
l Encapsulations (caps)
are required

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MEMS Encapsulation Processes
l Integrated MEMS Encapsulation Processes
– Guckel (1984) reactive gas sealing
– Ikeda (1988) epitaxial deposition
– Lin (1993) LPCVD deposition
– Smith (1996) CMP + film deposition
l Wafer Bonding Processes
– Anodic bonding (1969) SOI, pressure sensors ...
– Fusion bonding (??) pressure sensors …
– Eutectic bonding (??) assembly, packaging ...

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 Lin et. al., “Microelectromechanical Filters for Signal Processing,”
IEEE/ASME J. of Microelectromechanical Systems, Vol. 7, pp.286-294, 1998

Example:LPCVD Packaging Process

l Example: Surface-
micromachined micro
electromechanical
filters
Beam length 150 µm
Beam width 2 µm
Beam thickness 2 µm
Suspension 2 µm
Resonance 18 kHz
Quality factor 30 in air Lin, Howe and Pisano, JMEMS,
Vol. 7, pp. 286-294, 1998

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 LPCVD Encapsulation Process (1)

(a) Standard surface-

micromachining process
(b) Additional thick PSG
deposition to define
encapsulation regions
(c) Additional thin PSG
deposition to define
etch channels

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 LPCVD Encapsulation Process (2)

(d) Nitride shell deposition;

etch hole definition
(e) Removal of all sacrificial
PSG inside the shell;
supercritical CO2 drying;
global LPCVD sealing

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 Fabrication/Measurement Results
SEM Microphoto Measured Spectrum, Q = 2200

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 Fabrication Results

• Overhanging microresonator • thin coating of silicon nitride

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 Guckel et. al., “Planar Processed Polysilicon Sealed Cavities for Pressure
Transducer Arrays,” IEDM, pp. 223-225, 1984

Reactive Gas Sealing Process

Polysilicon Thermal Oxide

Cavity Sealed Cavity

Substrate Substrate

(a) Construct polysilicon (b) Reactive gas seal @>900oC

shell on top of device (Oxidation to consume
the gas inside the cavity)
Si + O2 --> SiO2

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 Ikeda et. al., “Silicon Pressure Sensor Integrates Resonant Strain Gauge
On Diaphragm,” Sensors and Actuators, A21, pp.146-150, 1990

Epitaxial Deposition and Sealing

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 Smith et. al., “Characterization of the Embedded Micromechanical Device Approach
To the Monolithic Integration of MEMS with CMOS,” SPIE, Vol. 2879, 1996

CMP and Thin Film Deposition

Embedded MEMS CMOS
Microstructure

Silicon Substrate Silicon Substrate

(a) MEMS microstructure is (b) Conventional CMOS process

fabricated in a trench, is conducted
sealed and flattened

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 Lebovitz et. al., “Permeable Polysilicon Etch-Access Windows for Microshell
Fabrication,” Transducers’95, pp. 224-227, 1995

Permeable Polysilicon Window

PSG Polysilicon Nitride

(a) PSG Deposition

Nitride deposition and patterning
Silicon Substrate Thin polysilicon deposition

(b) HF etching to remove PSG

Silicon Substrate

(c) LPCVD nitride deposition and

sealing
Silicon Substrate

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Wafer Bonding Processes
l Anodic Bonding
– Temperature @~450oC, voltage @~1000 volts
– Silicon (metal) to glass
l Fusion Bonding
– Temperature @~1000oC
– Silicon to silicon (glass, oxide)
l Eutectic Bonding
– Silicon to metal (silicon-to-gold @~363oC)

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 Wallis and Pomerantz, “Field Assisted Glass-Metal Sealing,”
J. of Applied Physics, Vol. 40, pp. 3946-3949, 1969

Anodic Bonding
l Sodium-rich glass (e.g. Corning #7740 -
Pyrex)
l Operation temperature is well below the
melting temperature of glass for 5 ~ 10
minutes
l Surface roughness < 1 µm
l Native oxide on Si must be thinner than
0.2 µm
l Bonding temperature below 450oC or the
thermal properties of materials begin to
deviate seriously
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Anodic Bonding Temperature
l Bonding temperature > 280oC --> Si under tension
l Bonding temperature < 280oC --> Si under
compression

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Anodic Bonding Mechanism
l At elevated temperature, sodium migrates toward
the cathode and leaves a space charge region and
a high electrical field between the glass and silicon
l Electrostatic force pull silicon and glass into
intimate contact
l Covalent bonds _ Cathode
are formed Vdc
+ Glass
Silicon

Anode

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 1Itoet al., “A Rapid Selective Anodic Bonding Method,”
Transducers’95, pp.277-280, 1995
2Sander., “A Bipolar-Compatible Monolithic Capacitive Pressure Sensor,” Tech. Report No. G558-10,

Stanford Univ. 1980.

Anodic Bonding Modifications

l Ti mesh bias electrode is deposited over glass for
faster bonding1
l Si dioxide and aluminum are used as intermediate
layer to screen the underlying silicon from harm from
the high electrical field2
l Sputtered or evaporated borosilicate glass (4 to 7 um
thick) are used as intermediate layers for bonding3,4
l Sputtered Corning #7570 glass has been reported to
provide bonding within 10 mins with 30 to 60 Volts5
3Brooks and Donovan., “Low Temperature Electrostatic Si-To-Si Seal Using Sputtered Borosilicate Glass,”
J. of Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 119, pp.545-546, 1972
4Krause et al., “Silicon to Silicon Anodic Bonding Using Evaporated Glass,” Transducers’95, pp228-231, 1995,

5Esashi et al., “Low Temperature Silicon to Silicon Bonding with Intermediate Lowe Melting Point Glass,”

Sensors and Actuators, Vol. A23, pp.931-934, 1990,

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 Silicon Fusion Bonding (SFB)
l Chemical reaction between OH-groups (native or
grown oxide)
l In an oxidizing ambient at temperatures greater than
800oC, higher temperature (>1000oC is necessary to
get voidless bonds)
l Surface roughness less than 4 nm
l Wafers must undergo hydration (soaking the wafers in
a H2O2-H2SO4 mixture, diluted H2SO4, boiling nitric acid
or oxygen plasma) to create hydrophilic top layer
consisting O-H bonds
l Bonding systems: Si + Oxidized Si wafer, tow Oxidized
Si wafer, two bare Si wafers, Si + Si with a thin layer (<
200 nm) nitride
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 1Shimbo et al., “Silicon-to-Silicon Direct Bonding Method,”
J. of Appl. Phys., Vol. 60, pp.2987-2989, 1986

Silicon Fusion Bonding Mechanism

l Proposed reaction: Si-OH + OH-Si --> H2O + Si-O-Si1

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 1Schmidt., “Silicon Wafer Bonding for Micromechanical Devices,”
Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, pp.127-130, 1994.
2Tong et al., “Low Temperature Direct Wafer Bonding,” J. of Microelectromechanical Systems, Vol. 3, pp. 29-35, 1994.
3Suga et al., “A Novel Approach to Assembly and Interconnection for MEMS ,” MEMS95, pp.413-418, 1995

Silicon Fusion Bonding Variations

l Transformation from Silanol bonds to Siloxane bonds
l Silanol groups may get hydrogen bonding at room
temperature
l Bond strength after various annealing temperatures1
– < 300oC, --> bond strength remains the same as spontaneous
bond
– 300oC - 800oC --> voids can be formed (possibly due to water
molecules)
– > 800oC --> bond strength increases to about the fracture
strength of single crystal silicon of 10 to 20 MPa (at 1000oC)
l Low temperature bonding processes have been
reported
– < 150oC for 10 to 400 hr2
– Energetic particle bombardment (argon at 1.5 keV) 3
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Eutectic Bonding
l Au-Si eutectic bonding takes place at a temperature of
363oC
l Many other bonding systems

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 Cohen et al.,”Wafer-to-Wafer Transfer of Microstructures for Vacuum Packaging,”
Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, pp.32-35, 1996..

Wafer-Wafer Transfer
l Wafer-to-wafer transfer by HEXSIL and Si-Au eutectic
bonding

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Organic Polymer Bonding
l Advantages:
– Low bonding temperature
– No metal ions
– Elastic property of polymer can reduce bonding stress
l Disadvantages:
– Not a good material for hermetic sealing
– High vapor pressure
– Poor mechanical properties
l Examples:
– UV-curable encapsulant resins
– Thick ultraviolet photoresists such as polyimides, AZ-4000,
and SU-8

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Higher Level Packaging
l L0 (encapsulating a microstructure)
l L1(chip carrier)
l Protection of silicon die and electrical leads
– Vapor-deposited organizes (e.g., parylene)
– Silicon gel coating over the die
– A plastic or ceramic cap for particle and handling protection (TO-8)
– A welded-on nickel cap with pressure port

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Chip Carrier Example

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 Yeh and Smith,,”Fluidic Self-Assembly of Microstructures and Its Application
To the Integration of GaAs on Si,” MEMS94, pp.279-284, 1994

Self-Assembly
l Assembly of micromechanical devices is a big
challenge
l Self-assembly provides an alternative way to
either manual or automated assembly
l Example: fluidic self-assembly

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 Summary
l The importance of MEMS packaging in
MEMS commercialization is briefed
l MEMS packaging issues are discussed
l MEMS packaging approaches are
introduced
– Integrated processes
– Wafer-bonding processes

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 Acknowledgement
l Some market information are adopted from
Dr. Kirk Williams, UC Extension MEMS Class
Note, May 29 – June 1, 2001

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Special Packaging Schemes

Liwei Lin
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Co-Director, Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center
University of California at Berkeley

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 1

Presentation Outline
l Introduction
l New Packaging Processes
– Localized Eutectic, Fusion and Solder Bonding
– Localized CVD Bonding
– Localized Nanosecond Laser Bonding
– RTP (Rapid Thermal Processing) Bonding
– Localized Ultrasonic Bonding
– Localized Inductive Heating and Bonding
l Summary and Acknowledgement
l Wrap-up & Discussions
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 MEMS Packaging Issues
l Example: Surface-
Micromachined
Accelerometers by
Analog Devices, Inc.
l Key Issues
– Free standing
microstructures
– Temperature sensitive
microelectronics
ADXL50 by Analog Devices, Inc.

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 Approach
l To adopt IC packaging
processes as much as
possible
l To protect MEMS
devices and follow IC
packaging processes
l Encapsulations (caps)
are required

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MEMS Encapsulation Processes
l Integrated MEMS Encapsulation Processes
– Guckel (1984) reactive gas sealing
– Ikeda (1988) epitaxial deposition
– Lin (1993) LPCVD deposition
– Smith (1996) CMP + film deposition
l Wafer Bonding Processes
– Anodic bonding (1969) SOI, pressure sensors ...
– Fusion bonding (??) pressure sensors …
– Eutectic bonding (??) assembly, packaging ...

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 Lin et. al., “Microelectromechanical Filters for Signal Processing,”
IEEE/ASME J. of Microelectromechanical Systems, Vol. 7, pp.286-294, 1998

Example:LPCVD Packaging Process

l Example: Surface-
micromachined micro
electromechanical
filters
Beam length 150 µm
Beam width 2 µm
Beam thickness 2 µm
Suspension 2 µm
Resonance 18 kHz
Quality factor 30 in air Lin, Howe and Pisano, JMEMS,
Vol. 7, pp. 286-294, 1998

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 LPCVD Encapsulation Process (1)

(a) Standard surface-

micromachining process
(b) Additional thick PSG
deposition to define
encapsulation regions
(c) Additional thin PSG
deposition to define
etch channels

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 LPCVD Encapsulation Process (2)

(d) Nitride shell deposition;

etch hole definition
(e) Removal of all sacrificial
PSG inside the shell;
supercritical CO2 drying;
global LPCVD sealing

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 Fabrication/Measurement Results
SEM Microphoto Measured Spectrum, Q = 2200

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 Fabrication Results

• Overhanging microresonator • thin coating of silicon nitride

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 NSF CAREER Award, Division of Electrical & Communication Systems, 5/98-4/2002
Rated No. 1 in the panel

MEMS Post-Packaging
l MEMS Packaging Processes
– Integrated Processes
• Highly process dependent, not versatile
• Not suitable for post-processing
– Wafer Bonding Processes
• Need high temperature which may damage
microelectronics or temperature sensitive MEMS materials
• Require very smooth and flat surfaces
l Localized Heating & Bonding Processes
– Localized Eutectic, Fusion bonding and others

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 DARPA BAA98-43, MTO/MEMS Program, 5/98 - 4/2001
US patent, No. 6,232,150, May 15, 2001

Massively Parallel Post-Packaging

• Innovative Approach • Industrial Participants

- Analog Devices Inc.

- Motorola Inc.
- Delco Electronics Corp.
- Honeywell Inc.
- Ford Motor Company
- SiTek Inc.
...

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 Rationale: Localized Heating
• High temperature is confined • Temperature is controllable

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 Lin, Cheng and Najafi, Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 11B, pp. 1412-1414, 1998

Surface +
Localized Eutectic Bonding
• Conventional oven, Si-Au • Localized eutectic bonding
eutectic bonding - uniformity?? excellent bonding strength

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 Cheng, Lin and Najafi, IEEE/ASME J. of MEMS, Vol. 9, pp. 3-8, 2000

Surface +
Localized Fusion Bonding
• Silicon-to-glass fusion • After HF dipping
bonding - heater disappeared excellent bonding result

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 Cheng, Lin and Najafi, IEEE/ASME J. of MEMS, Vol. 10, pp. 392-399, 2001

Surface +
Localized Solder Bonding
Before Bonding
• Indium solder as intermediate
layer - Al Dew Point Sensor

After Bonding

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 Cheng, Hsu, Lin, Najafi and Nguyen, MEMS’01, pp. 18-21, 2001

Surface +
Localized Vacuum Encapsulation
• Vacuum encapsulated comb • Long-term testing under the
resonator under a glass cap vacuum packaged cavity
12000
12000

9000
9000

factor
Qfactor
6000

Q
3000

00
00 7 414 21 8 28 3512 42 49
16 56 20
63 70 24

Weeks
Weeks
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 Cheng, Hsu, Lin, Najafi and Nguyen, MEMS’01, pp. 18-21, 2001

Surface +
Vacuum Level and Outgas
Quality factor vs. pressure Ti/Au coating to reduce outgas
Q factor vs. Pressure
-45
Before

Transmission[dB]
12000 Annealing
Q~500
10000 After
Annealing -55
8000 Ti/Au Coating
Q factor

Before
6000 Annealing
with higher Q Q~25
4000 -65
2000
0
0.0001 0.01 1 100 10000 -75
97 101 105 109
Torr Frequency [KHz]

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 Cheng, Hsu, Lin, Najafi and Nguyen, MEMS’01, pp. 18-21, 2001

Surface +
Wafer-Level Processing
Gas resident time Wafer-level packaging scheme
0.8

0.7
Cavity Pressure (torr)

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 2000 4000 6000
Gas Resident Time (sec)

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 He, Lin and Cheng, Transducers’99, pp.1312-1215, 1999

Surface +
Localized CVD Process
• Temperature distribution
on a microheater • Surface-reaction limited
deposition process

• Experimental result

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 Lin, IEEE Trans. on Advanced Packaging, Vol. 23, pp. 608-616, 2000

Surface +
Localized CVD Bonding
Selective CVD Polysilicon
Polysilicon
Microheater Packaging Cap (Si) Packaging Cap (Si)
Oxide
Polysilicon
Interconnection
Device Substrate (Si) Device Substrate (Si)
(a) (b)

Device Substrate Cap Substrate

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 Joachim and Lin, ASME MEMS Symposium, MEMS-Vol. 1, pp.37-42, 1999

Surface +
Localized CVD Trimming
• Localized CVD for selective trimming
• 1.5 x 1 x 100 µm3 with 0.7 mA input current for 20 min
• non-uniform deposition --> surface reaction limited

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 22

 Su and Lin, MEMS’01

Plastic Bonding and Liquid Surface +

Encapsulation
l Plastics to Silicon, to Glass l Direct encapsulation
and to Plastics bonding of liquid

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 23

 Kim and Lin, MEMS’02, pp. 415-418, 2002

Ultrasonic Bonding and Sealing

uLateral vibration setup for ultrasonic bonding
Before After
Al Bonding Bonding
Al
Load Native Al
Al Al
Oxide

Control Unit
Horn Glass Cover
In/Al (5 µm)
Die Au/Al (0.6, 1 µm)
Si Chip
Holder
Piezoelectric Fixture
Actuator

Guide-Slider
6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 24
 Kim and Lin, MEMS’02, pp. 415-418, 2002

Hermetic Sealing Results (In/Au)

l Hermetic sealing with l Spreading caused by
indium/gold bonding excessive force
Colored Spread Indium
Colored Liquid
Liquid
Bonding
Ring

Air

Air

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 25

 Kim and Lin, MEMS’02, pp. 415-418, 2002

Ultrasonic Bonding Parameters

l Both In/Au and Al/Al bonding systems have
been successfully demonstrated

Parameters In/Au Al/Al

Power supply
20~25 Watts 30~50 Watts
output
Bonding time 0.8~1.8 sec 1.5~4.0 sec
Pressure 9.2~15.4 MPa 20.8~40.1 MPa
Vibration amplitude 0.8~1.5 µm 0.8~1.5 µm
Total bonding area
1.59~2.12 mm2 1.59~2.12 mm2
on one chip
6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 26
 Cao and Lin, HH’02, to appear, 2002

Selective Induction Bonding

l This method has great potential for wafer-level
selective packaging processes
l The bonding time can be very fast and the heating
zone can be well confined by remote heating source

Solder
Substrate Ring
Coil 10µm Glass to
metal
bonding

Glass to glass
Sample Substrate
bondng
50µm
Platform
6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 27
 Luo and Lin, Transducers’01

Surface +
Nanosecond Laser Welding
u Ultrafast bonding, Restricted heating zone,
Parallel packaging

Patterns
which
Mask
pre-define Bonding
results
Bonding
areas

Mask
6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 28
 Chiao and Lin, Sensors and Actuators, Vol. 91A, pp. 404-408, 2001

RTP Wafer-Level Bonding

Lamp
• Low thermal mass
• Ramp up- 100 oC/sec
• Cool down- 50 oC/sec
( 1000-400 oC )
• Low thermal budget
( D x t is small )
Thermal Radiation
• Wafer-level process
Cap Wafer

Device Wafer

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 29

 Chiao and Lin, Sensors and Actuators, Vol. 91A, pp. 404-408, 2001

Fabrication & Packaging Processes

Sealing Ring width- Sealing area-450x450~

100-250 µm 1000x1000 µm2

Comb-drive
Resonator

Interconnection
Lines
Bump

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 30

 Chiao and Lin, Sensors and Actuators, Vol. 91A, pp. 404-408, 2001

Surface +
RTP Bonding (Al to Glass or Nitride)
u RTP (Rapid Thermal Processing) for device
encapsulations (750oC for 10 seconds)

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 31

 Chiao and Lin, Sensors and Actuators, Vol. 91A, pp. 404-408, 2001

Bonding Results - Bond Strength

l Forcefully break the

bond • Glass fracture strength – 270 MPa*
* M. K. Keshavan et.al, J. of Mat. Sci, v15, p839-44, 1980

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 32

 Chiao and Lin, Transducers’01

Surface +
Accelerated Hermeticity Testing
l Lognormal Distribution -- l MIL-STD-883E method
failure process 1014.10 gross and fine leak
tests for 60 packages
l Pass Helium leak test with
rate < 5x10-8 atm-cc/sec
l Autoclave chamber 2.7atm
130oC 100% RH steam for
864 hrs
l 90% confidence – 0.017
year in harsh environment
which is in equivalent to
about 50 years in normal
, t in hours usage
6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 33
 Chiao and Lin, Transducers’01

Life Time Prediction

Acceleration Factor
W=Bonding width Normal Usage
A=Area (years)
W=200 µm
1700
A=450x450 µm2 =3000 , Ea=0.9, n=3*
W=100 µm • 1min in autoclave– 3000mins
300
A=450x450 µm2 under normal usage
W=200 µm l Overestimate AF
270
A=1000x1000 µm2 l Package formed by Al-
Nitride bonding does not
W=150 µm 50 aging as much as plastic
A=1000x1000 µm2 dip and anodically bonded
*W.D. Brown. Advanced electronic packaging. silicon-glass package
IEEE Press, 1999.
6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 34
 Chiao and Lin, Hilton Head’02

RTP Vacuum Packaging

l Pre-bake the wafers at 300C in

vacuum for various periods
l Bonding at 750oC for 10 seconds
6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 35
 Chiao and Lin, Hilton Head’02

Vacuum Packaging Results

2000
1800

Quality Factor
1500

1000

500 400
200

0
0 4 12
Time of Pre-Baking in Vacuum ( hours)

l A comb-resonator is vacuum
packaged l Quality factor increases with
the pre-baking time
l Quality Factor~ 1800±200
l Pressure inside the package ~
200mTorr
6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 36
 Chiao and Lin, Hilton Head’02

Long-Term and Accelerated Tests

l Long-term testing up to 4 weeks • Autoclave chamber 2.7atm,
l Q stays 1800±200 130oC/100% RH steam
l Frequency drift is within 0.13% • Q stays at 200 for 24 hours

2500 18.64

Resonant Frequency(KHz)
Q Factor
1
Resonant Frequency 18.63

Normalized Amplitude
2000 0.8
Quality Factor

18.62

0.6
18.61
1500
0.4 Before autoclave
18.6 After autoclave for 24 hours

0.2
1000 18.59 24.56 24.58 24.6 24.62 24.64 24.66 24.68 24.7
1 2 3 4
6/17/2004 Weeks Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley Frequency ( KHz ) 37
 Summary
l Special packaging schemes are discussed
l Localized Thermal Bonding Processes
– Localized Eutectic, Fusion and Solder Bonding
– Localized CVD & Nanosecond laser Bonding
– Localized ultrasonic bonding & inductive heating
l Rapid Thermal Bonding Process
– RTP silicon nitride-to-aluminum bonding
– Accelerated hermeticity tests
l Two vacuum post-packaging methods are
demonstrated
– Localized solder bonding
– RTP bonding

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 38

 Acknowledgement
l Students & Post-docs
– Y.T. Cheng, J.B. Kim, M. Chiao, Y.C. Su &
A. Cao
– Cheng Luo, G.H. He
l Univ.of Michigan Electronics Lab &
UC Berkeley Microfabrication Lab
l NSF CAREER AWARD
l DARPA/MTO/MEMS Program

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 39

Wrap-up & Discussions
l There is plenty of room at the bottom!!
l Packaging is the key for commercial
products
l Discussions:
– Packaging foundry??
– Packaging design house??
– Packaging IP??
– More packaging possibilities??

6/17/2004 Liwei Lin, University of California at Berkeley 40