Assembly of MEMS-based devices by reactive bonding

Abstract:
In this work, the process technology for fabricating reactive multilayer systems (RMS) has been developed, and the application of reactive bonding on the assembly of micro systems has been demonstrated. Besides the already established Al/Ni-RMS, new reactive materials as Zr/Al/Si have been fabricated by physical vapor deposition and have been provided as foils as well as direct coatings on the bond partners. RMS preforms with defined dimensions have been produced by laser structuring. As application examples, where the high thermal conductivity of reactive bonds is very useful, the mounting of Peltier coolers could be demonstrated. Furthermore, silicon-based acceleration sensors showed low mechanical stress after reactive bonding on ceramic substrates. The realization of hermetic seals by reactive bonding is still ongoing.