Encapsulated inertial systems

Abstract

There is significant interest in integration of multiple MEMS functionalities into a single compact device. Our group has developed a wafer-scale encapsulation process that provides an ultraclean, stable environment for operation of MEMS timing references, which has been commercialized by SiTime, Inc. In this paper, we discuss some of the issues associated with incorporation of inertial sensors into this encapsulation process, including design constraints, stiction, pressure, and other issues.