Doug Sparks

Silicon micromachining is used to for the deuterium fuel pellets used in recent record breaking fusion tests at LLNL. Etching, CVD coating, channel formation are Si processes used to make the hollow diamond shells containing the hydrogen fuel. Laser compression to fuse the nucleus together depends on precise micomachine processing.

The use of MEMS technology, particularly chip scale vacuum packaging, is discussed. With more development, these quantum chiplets have the potential to revolutionize quantum computing.

The move from a single global semiconductor supply chain to regional and national supply chains is presented. National security issues, zero-covid, logistics, export bans will be discussed. Semi and MEMS capabilities of the leading countries will be coverd:US, China, Taiwan, Japan, SOuth Korea, Germany, Singapore... CHIPS Act and Big Fund investments will also be discussed.

MEMS supply chains in Asia are covered in this talk. These include MEMS and ASIC foundries, OSATs and material suppliers. Recent supply chain problems with regard to fab capacity, logistics and inflation will be discussed. The MEMS product and manufacturing infrastructure in Japan, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Singapore, India, South Korea and others will be covered.

The MEMS supply chain is being impacted by COVID, inflation, regulations, logistic, travel and other issues. This paper looks at the challenges to the MEMS industry and how they've developed over that last few years.

China has seeing a dramatic surge in the growth of infrastructure for semiconductors and MEMS manufacturing in the last decade. Established IC giants like Intel, Samsung, TSMC and SK Hynix have built 300mm wafer fabs and Chinese firms like SMIC have also built semiconductor foundries there as well. Semiconductor equipment suppliers have also installed significant resources to support the industry in China and the surrounding region. A significant portion of that investment will be go to the… Show more

China has seeing a dramatic surge in the growth of infrastructure for semiconductors and MEMS manufacturing in the last decade. Established IC giants like Intel, Samsung, TSMC and SK Hynix have built 300mm wafer fabs and Chinese firms like SMIC have also built semiconductor foundries there as well. Semiconductor equipment suppliers have also installed significant resources to support the industry in China and the surrounding region. A significant portion of that investment will be go to the sensors and MEMS segment. China has seeing a MEMS manufacturing transition from 100 & 150mm wafers to 200mm wafers as well as a transition from government institute fabs to commercial MEMS fabs and foundries. In addition, the high-volume MEMS manufacturing segment in China was previously post wafer packaging and test, but now is encompassing the entire wafer fabrication portion of the production cycle. The major players, technology, investment, challenges and related to semiconductors and MEMS capabilities in China are covered. Show less

The history of MEMS-based inertial sensors, gyroscopes, accelerometers, barometric pressure sensors and the e-compass are covered as are the latest advances in inertial sensors. The development of multi-axis 3dof, 6dof and 9dof IMUs are over viewed from a MEMS design and packaging standpoint.

MEMS wafer level package (WLP) integration for industrial, automotive, medical and consumer applications are covered. Wafer to wafer bonding, thin film getter integration, 3D printed structured substrates and microfluidics are discussed.

Wafer foundries have been operating in China for many years for traditional ICs. Recently high-volume MEMS fabs and foundries have started up in China to offer 150mm and 200mm MEMS wafers to local users. These facilities enable fabless companies and design firms to develop and manufacture their own products without the need for capital intensive factories and equipment. The key needs for a MEMS foundry will be covered in this talk. Micromachined wafer fabrication processes that are now… Show more

Wafer foundries have been operating in China for many years for traditional ICs. Recently high-volume MEMS fabs and foundries have started up in China to offer 150mm and 200mm MEMS wafers to local users. These facilities enable fabless companies and design firms to develop and manufacture their own products without the need for capital intensive factories and equipment. The key needs for a MEMS foundry will be covered in this talk. Micromachined wafer fabrication processes that are now available in China will be overviewed. Hanking Electronics has been working in the area of MEMS foundries since 2012 first to form Hanking MUMPS via partnerships with other MEMS fabs across the world in order to offer many Chinese different options for product development. Hanking has built the first 200mm pure MEMS wafer fab for high volume manufacturing in China. The capabilities of this MEMS fab will be presented. New foundry fabrication capabilities there will greatly increase the breadth of microsystem devices that can now be made in China with large diameter wafers. Show less

China is seeing a dramatic surge in the growth of infrastructure for MEMS manufacturing. More than $160 billion dollars will be spent in China’s semiconductor industry in the next few years, at a rate of about $10 billion per year. A significant portion of that investment will be go to the MEMS segment. China is seeing a MEMS manufacturing transition from 100 & 150mm wafers to 200mm wafers as well as a transition from government institute fabs to commercial MEMS fabs and foundries. In… Show more

China is seeing a dramatic surge in the growth of infrastructure for MEMS manufacturing. More than $160 billion dollars will be spent in China’s semiconductor industry in the next few years, at a rate of about $10 billion per year. A significant portion of that investment will be go to the MEMS segment. China is seeing a MEMS manufacturing transition from 100 & 150mm wafers to 200mm wafers as well as a transition from government institute fabs to commercial MEMS fabs and foundries. In addition, the high-volume MEMS manufacturing segment in China was previously post wafer packaging and test, but now is encompassing the entire wafer fabrication portion of the production cycle. This talk will cover the major players, technology, investment, challenges and related MEMS services and devices available in China. Show less

Many MicroElectro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) devices that are or will be employed in the Internet of Things (IoT), like gyroscopes, oscillators, accelerometers, pressure and IR sensors rely on wafer level packaging (WLP) to produce small, sealed silicon Chip Scaled Packages (CSP). These advanced packaging methods compliment or in some cases will replace more traditional IC packaging methods. The first MEMS devices were single sensors, or for motion sensors, single axis devices packaged using… Show more

Many MicroElectro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) devices that are or will be employed in the Internet of Things (IoT), like gyroscopes, oscillators, accelerometers, pressure and IR sensors rely on wafer level packaging (WLP) to produce small, sealed silicon Chip Scaled Packages (CSP). These advanced packaging methods compliment or in some cases will replace more traditional IC packaging methods. The first MEMS devices were single sensors, or for motion sensors, single axis devices packaged using cavity through-hole technology. With the advent of WLP, the single sensor MEMS chips could be stacked or placed side by side with the IC to form combinations on sensors, also called combo sensors. Show less

MicroElectro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) inertial sensors are used in vehicles for navigational assist, safety for detecting impact, roll and yaw from loss of traction. The sensors include linear acceleration, rotational motion such as yaw, roll and pitch as well as pressure sensors for altitude measurement. For consumer applications, they have been employed in gaming, smart phones, drones, cameras, virtual reality headsets and other devices. This paper will examine how the various micromachined… Show more

MicroElectro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) inertial sensors are used in vehicles for navigational assist, safety for detecting impact, roll and yaw from loss of traction. The sensors include linear acceleration, rotational motion such as yaw, roll and pitch as well as pressure sensors for altitude measurement. For consumer applications, they have been employed in gaming, smart phones, drones, cameras, virtual reality headsets and other devices. This paper will examine how the various micromachined inertial sensors are fabricated, tested and packaged for both the automotive and consumer markets. Show less

MEMS and nanotechnology companies have many paths to growth. This talk will cover the options of growth through partnerships, joint ventures (JVs) and acquisition emphasizing growth in China for technology companies. Hanking Electronics has been using these methods of business growth since 2012 first to form Hanking MUMPS via partnerships with other MEMS fabs across the world in order to offer many Chinese different options for product development. Hanking Electronics has now begun growing… Show more

MEMS and nanotechnology companies have many paths to growth. This talk will cover the options of growth through partnerships, joint ventures (JVs) and acquisition emphasizing growth in China for technology companies. Hanking Electronics has been using these methods of business growth since 2012 first to form Hanking MUMPS via partnerships with other MEMS fabs across the world in order to offer many Chinese different options for product development. Hanking Electronics has now begun growing via acquisition in the inertial sensor MEMS sensor space. Hanking recently acquired a complete set of 200mm MEMS fab & test tools, patents, business relationships and design offices in Italy. This has allowed Hanking Electronics to greatly shorten its development cycle and improve product reliability by leveraging the prior efforts of the MEMS business it acquired. Show less

Vacuum sealed piezoresistive pressure sensors made with a variety of wafer bonding methods are tested in high pressure helium for long term output drift due to helium ingress. Only one type of wafer bonding method is found to be hermetic long-term in helium. This eliminates helium diffusion through silicon as a hermeticity failure mode in chip scale MEMS packages. It appears that CSP MEMS can be made compatible with light gas applications and other applications requiring long-term hermeticity.

Various MEMS pressure and flow sensor design, fabrication and packaging for automotive and aerospace applications are reviewed in this book chapter.

Changes in resonator behavior in the presence of helium suggests either the effusion through bond interfaces or the low temperature interstitial diffusion of helium through silicon crystal silicon and its effusion from the surface of silicon. Resonator Q, peak gain and frequency all indicate the degradation of vacuum quality due to low temperature ingress of helium into the sealed vacuum cavity. These effects were seen between 23˚C and 100˚C after and during helium exposure at relatively low… Show more

Changes in resonator behavior in the presence of helium suggests either the effusion through bond interfaces or the low temperature interstitial diffusion of helium through silicon crystal silicon and its effusion from the surface of silicon. Resonator Q, peak gain and frequency all indicate the degradation of vacuum quality due to low temperature ingress of helium into the sealed vacuum cavity. These effects were seen between 23˚C and 100˚C after and during helium exposure at relatively low pressures of 140 to 380 KPa. Similar effects were not observed for hydrogen, argon and air. Show less

The measurement of of light gases like hydrogen, methane, SF6, oxygen and argon is demonstrated over temperature and pressure with a MEMS-based resonant microtube device. Binary concentration measurements at low pressure is also presented in the paper.

Describes the use of a resonating microtube MEMS chip to measure the density and hence quality of various fuels.

Using thin film getters (NanoGetters) to improve vacuum packaging and lower pressure in wafer-to-wafer bonding, ceramic and metallic packages for MEMS resonator, IR sensors and pressure sensors

A MEMS-based Coriolis mass flow meter is described. This device used a vacuum packaged resonating silicon microtube. It has been developed for industrial applications, measuring relatively low flow rates.

Described our novel finding that the force required to drive a micro fluid resonator with a nano-liter volume in a closed-loop feedback method highly correlated with dynamic viscosity, and was in good agreement with basic theoretical models.

A dielectric, chip-scale MEMS packaging method is discussed. The packaging method uses wafer-to-wafer bonding of micromachined glass wafers with a reflowed, glass, sealing ring. The glass wafers are micromachined and have metal and silicon structures patterned on them with metal and fluidic feedthroughs. A variety of getters and sealing designs are disclosed to vary the pressure of the microcavity by many orders of magnitude from under 1 mTorr up to 1 atm (760 000 mTorr), enabling either vacuum… Show more

A dielectric, chip-scale MEMS packaging method is discussed. The packaging method uses wafer-to-wafer bonding of micromachined glass wafers with a reflowed, glass, sealing ring. The glass wafers are micromachined and have metal and silicon structures patterned on them with metal and fluidic feedthroughs. A variety of getters and sealing designs are disclosed to vary the pressure of the microcavity by many orders of magnitude from under 1 mTorr up to 1 atm (760 000 mTorr), enabling either vacuum or damped packaging of the device elements on the same chip. The final singulated, all-glass, chip-scale package can have electrical, optical/IR and fluidic interfaces. Applications for resonators, switches, optical sensors and displays are discussed. Show less