Edinburgh: Bonding process for microelectronics devices

Licensing opportunity

A team at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, has developed a polymer-based, high-hermeticity encapsulation method for wafer-level packaging of micro-electronic-mechanical systems (MEMS) and sensors. A GB patent has been filed for the technology, which is available for licensing.

Polymer-based packaging and intermediate layer bonding techniques offer flexibility in package design at a low cost, but they can suffer from a lack of good hermeticity because of their porous nature and limited barrier properties.

The Heriot-Watt researchers, funded by a Scottish Enterprise Proof of Concept award, have developed a method for wafer-level packaging of MEMS, micro-opto-electromechanical systems (MOEMS) and other microelectronics devices. They have used composite materials based on commercially available polymers and established manufacturing processes to develop a novel, high-hermeticity bonding process from a low-cost polymer technology.

According to the university, the new bonding approach retains all of the advantages associated with the conventional polymer/adhesive-based wafer bonding method but offers high hermeticity. The new packaging method can also offer novel vertical (3-D) and through-cover interconnects for next-generation packaging requirements for MEMS and sensors.