MEMS Journal -- The Largest MEMS Publication in the World

Smart sensors: packaging, testing, and reliability

by Randy Frank
President, Randy Frank & Associates

All the advances and research occurring in micromachining would lead one to believe that breakthroughs in these areas will be sufficient to revolutionize sensing.  Unfortunately, the problems associated with the basic sensor packaging are compounded when the sensor is combined with higher levels of electronics.  These problems initiate at the lowest level of die and wire bonding and extend to encapsulation, sealing, and lead forming issues. Fundamental assembly differences frequently exist between sensor and microelectronics packaging and are among the problems that are being solved to achieve smarter sensors.  These differences include die bonding for stress isolation instead of for heat dissipation and wire bonding procedures.

Tronics delivers its millionth high performance inertial MEMS sensor

After more than a decade in the business, Tronics has sold more than one million high performance inertial MEMS sensors. These products were primarily high-performance accelerometers and gyroscopes.  In markets where yearly volumes are typically in the thousands, one million is a significant number.  High-performance inertial MEMS have been one of Tronics key businesses for about 15 years.  The company has been involved in all aspects of the sensor products -- from MEMS design to MEMS manufacturing, through ASIC integration, packaging, test and calibration.