IMT, a MEMS foundry with wafer level packaging capabilities, introduced its hermetic gold-to-gold (Au-Au) thermo compression bonding process this week. In development for nearly a year, this bond is repordedly now being used in production. According to the company, this type of bonding is one of the lowest cost methods of achieving a hermetic wafer level package (WLP) bond available in the market.
In addition to the Au-Au thermo compression and the other bonding technologies supported by the company, IMT's "flagship" remains its proprietary low-temperature hermetic eutectic bond. With sealing temperatures below 19o°C and support for reflow temperatures of more than 500°C, this bond is ideal for temperature-sensitive sensors or electronics that require a hermetic package. IMT says that the bond line width is controlled at less than 50 microns maximizing space for application functionality while keeping the package small and product costs lower.
"Packaging is now the critical element involved in reaching the level of integration being demanded, and to match customers' volume and specifications requirements," according to Dr. Eric Mounier at Yole Développement. "For example, new approaches in low temperature wafer bonding could change the way MEMS are currently produced."
"We introduced WLP into our first production product in 2002 and now see more than 80% of our total business making use of wafer level packaging," said John Foster, IMT's Chairman and CEO. "We have developed multiple options that cover nearly all packaging scenarios our customers have. Since price sensitivity is always near the top of our customers' concerns, we have bond technologies that can address that at multiple levels."
IMT claims to be the largest pure-play MEMS foundry in the United States. Established in 2000, IMT designs and manufactures MEMS devices for RF, biomedical, optical communications, infrared, navigation and other market segments.
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