Freescale Semiconductor,inc.

Nxp Usa, Inc.

Arvind S Salian

Stephen Ryan Hooper

William G McDonald

Robert F Steimle

Chad S Dawson

Ruben B Montez

Hemant D Desai

Peter T Jones

Michael Naumann

William DeWitt McWhorter

Fengyuan Li

Dave S Mahadevan

Michael E Chapman

Larry Dale Metzler

Tripti Regmi

Chad Krueger

John Shipman

Methods and apparatuses are provided for evaluating or testing stiction in Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) devices utilizing a mechanized shock pulse generation approach. In one embodiment, the method includes the step or process of loading a MEMS device, such as a multi-axis MEMS accelerometer, into a socket provided on a Device-Under-Test (DUT) board. After loading the MEMS device into the socket, a series of controlled shock pulses is generated and transmitted through the MEMS device utilizing a mechanized test apparatus. The mechanized test apparatus may, for example, repeatedly move the DUT board over a predefined motion path to generate the controlled shock pulses. In certain cases, transverse vibrations may also be directed through the tested MEMS device in conjunction with the shock pulses. An output of the MEMS device is then monitored to determine whether stiction of the MEMS device occurs during each of the series of controlled shock pulses.

Controlled pulse generation methods and apparatuses for evaluating stiction in microelectromechanical systems devices

A surface of a cavity of a MEMS device that is rough to reduce stiction. In some embodiments, the average roughness (Ra) of the surface is 5 nm or greater. In some embodiments, the rough surface is formed by forming one or more layers of a rough oxidizable material, then oxidizing the material to form an oxide layer with a rough surface. Another layer is formed over the oxide layer with the rough surface, wherein the roughness of the oxide layer is transferred to the another layer.

Rough MEMS surface

A MEMS sensor package comprises a MEMS die that includes a substrate having a sensor formed thereon and a cap layer coupled to the substrate. The cap layer has a cavity overlying a substrate region at which the sensor resides. A port extends between the cavity and a side wall of the MEMS die and enables admittance of fluid into the cavity. Fabrication methodology entails providing a substrate structure having sensors formed thereon, providing a cap layer structure having inwardly extending cavities, and forming a channel between pairs of the cavities. The cap layer structure is coupled with the substrate structure and each channel is interposed between a pair of cavities. A singulation process produces a pair of sensor packages, each having a port formed by splitting the channel, where the port is exposed during singulation and extends between its respective cavity and side wall of the sensor package.

MEMS sensor with side port and method of fabricating same

A MEMS device () is provided that includes a handle layer () having a sidewall (), a cap () overlying said handle layer (), said cap () having a sidewall (), and a conductive material () disposed on at least a portion of said sidewall of said cap () and said sidewall of said handle layer () to thereby electrically couple said handle layer () to said cap (). A wafer-level method for manufacturing the MEMS device from a substrate () comprising a handle layer () and a cap () overlying the handle layer () is also provided. The method includes making a first cut through the cap () and at least a portion of the substrate () to form a first sidewall (), and depositing a conductive material () onto the first sidewall () to electrically couple the cap () to the substrate ().

Substrate contact for a capped MEMS and method of making the substrate contact at the wafer level

Methods are provided for manufacturing a sensor. The method comprises depositing a sacrificial material at a first predetermined thickness onto a wafer having at least one sense element mounted thereon, the sacrificial material deposited at least partially onto the at least one sense element, forming an encapsulating layer at a second predetermined thickness less than the first predetermined thickness over the wafer and around the deposited sacrificial material, and removing the sacrificial material. Apparatus for a sensor manufactured by the aforementioned method are also provided.

Methods and apparatus having wafer level chip scale package for sensing elements

An electromagnetic interference (EMI) and/or electromagnetic radiation shield is formed by forming a conductive layer () over a mold encapsulant (). The conductive layer () may be electrically coupled using a wire to the leadframe () of the semiconductor package (). The electrical coupling can be performed by wire bonding two device portions () of a leadframe () together and then cutting the wire bond () by forming a groove () in the overlying mold encapsulant () to form two wires (). The conductive layer () is then electrically coupled to each of the two wires (). In another embodiment, a looped wire bond () is formed on top of a semiconductor die (). After mold encapsulation, portions of the mold encapsulant () are removed to expose portions of the looped wire bond (). The conductive layer () is then formed over the mold encapsulant () and the exposed portion of the looped wire bond () so that the conductive layer () is electrically coupled to the looped wire bond ().

Method of forming a semiconductor package and structure thereof

Growing community of inventors

Austin, TX, United States of America

Arvind S Salian