Reliability of MEMS packaging: vacuum maintenance and packaging induced stress

In this study, the dominant reliability issues of MEMS packaging that include vacuum maintenance and packaging induced stress, are discussed, and design considerations to improve the reliability are presented. The MEMS vibratory gyroscope sensor is fabricated with anodically bonded wafer level vacuum packaging followed by die-bonding and wire-bonding processes. The epoxy-molding compound (EMC) is applied to encapsulate the gyroscope sensor. Several methods to improve reliability of the vacuum packaging are suggested based on extensive work. The two major failure mechanisms of anodic vacuum packaging, namely leakage and outgassing are investigated. Leakage is effectively reduced by optimization of the bonding process. Outgassing inside the cavity can be minimized by application of Ti coating. Packaging induced stress is mainly caused by thermal expansion mismatch among the materials used to fabricate the package. During anodic bonding, thermo-mechanical stress is generated to the bonded wafer, which increases with temperature. The EMC encapsulation also produces package-induced stress. In order to increase robustness of the structure against deformation, a “crab-leg” type spring is replaced with a semi-folded spring. The results show that the frequency shift is greatly reduced after applying the semi-folded spring.