Vacuum measurement on vacuum packaged MEMS devices

This paper investigates the relationship between the resonance impedance of a tuning fork quartz oscillator and the small size cavity vacuum pressure and develops an on-line vacuum measurement system to track real-time vacuum pressure in MEMS devices. Furthermore, authors completely analyze all facts that affect the resonance impedance. A set of metal vacuum packaged devices have been monitored for more than 10 months using this on-line vacuum measurement system. The results indicate that it is very critical to investigate vacuum packaging processes, reliability and durability of the vacuum devices by using this on-line vacuum measurement system.