Nov. 9, 2006 — The SAES Getters Group, a provider of getter technology for high vacuum applications, and SUSS MicroTec, a supplier of precision manufacturing and test equipment for the semiconductor and emerging markets, are working together to develop their technologies for wafer-level packaging applications for the MEMS industry.
“SAES Getters is extremely pleased with SUSS’ introduction of the M-Lock 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”, said Marco Moraja, MEMS business development area manager at SAES Getters, in a prepared statement.
As a consequence of ultra-clean bonding environments, he said, SAES Getters’ PaGeWafer can completely deploy its gettering capacity inside MEMS devices without losing any gettering capacity during the bonding process.
SUSS MicroTec’s M-Lock system is intended to provide ultra-clean, low-moisture and low-organics environment for vacuum and inert gas wafer bonding. It is intended 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. The M-Lock system 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.
SAES Getters’ PaGeWafer has been engineered 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 microns 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 active in order to increase device reliability and lifetime.
Amir Mirza, international product manager for wafer bonders at SUSS MicroTec, said in a prepared statement that the company is will optimize its wafer bonding processes for SAES Getters’ materials technology.