Hrl Laboratories, LLC

Raytheon Company

Frederic P Stratton

David T Chang

Randall Lynn Kubena

Hung P Nguyen

Deborah J Kirby

Raviv Perahia

Pamela R Patterson

Daniel J Gregoire

Terence J De Lyon

Jeffery J Puschell

A device preferably for use in an inertial navigation system the device having a single IC wafer; a plurality of sensors bonded to bond regions on said single IC wafer, at least one of said bond regions including an opening therein in gaseous communication with a pressure chamber associated with at least one of the plurality of said sensors; and a plurality of caps encapsulating said plurality of sensors, at least one of said plurality of caps forming at least a portion of said pressure chamber. A method of making the device is also disclosed.

Method and apparatus for the monolithic encapsulation of a micro-scale inertial navigation sensor suite

A method of fabricating a resonator includes providing a first quartz substrate, forming a metallic etch stop on a first surface of the first quartz substrate; attaching, using a temporary adhesive, the first surface of the first quartz substrate to a second quartz substrate, etching an opening for a via in a second surface of the first quartz substrate to the metallic etch stop, forming a metal electrode on the second surface of the first quartz substrate, the metal electrode penetrating the via in the first quartz substrate to make ohmic contact with the metallic etch stop, bonding the metal electrode formed on the second surface of the first quartz substrate to a pad formed on a host substrate; and dissolving the temporary adhesive to release the second quartz substrate from the first quartz substrate, wherein the first quartz substrate and the host substrate each comprise crystalline quartz.

High Q quartz-based MEMS resonators and method of fabricating same

High-yield fabrication methods are provided for making quartz resonators having thicknesses ranging from one micrometer to several hundred micrometers and thus covering the frequency range from HF to UHF. Plasma dry etching is used to form arbitrary resonator geometries. The quartz resonator structure and the through-quartz vias are formed concurrently. The method includes bonding a quartz device wafer to a quartz handle wafer with a temporary adhesive. Mesa structures formed by plasma dry etching enable the resonators to achieve high-Q operation with energy trapping/mode confinement. A thermo-compression bond integrates the quartz resonators to a host wafer (e.g., an oscillator ASIC) to form oscillators. Silicon cap wafers are bonded over the resonators to the ASIC to provide wafer scale hermetic encapsulation of the quartz oscillators.

High Q quartz-based MEMS resonators and methods of fabricating same

A quart resonator for use in lower frequency applications (typically lower than the higher end of the UHF spectrum) where relatively thick quartz members, having a thickness greater than ten microns, are called for. A method for fabricating same resonator includes providing a first quart substrate; thinning the first quartz substrate to a desired thickness; forming a metallic etch stop on a portion of a first major surface of the first quartz substrate; adhesively attaching the first major surface of the first quartz substrate with the metallic etch stop formed thereon to a second quartz substrate using a temporary adhesive; etching a via though the first quartz substrate to the etch stop; forming a metal electrode on a second major surface of the first quartz substrate, the metal electrode penetrating the via in the first quartz substrate to make ohmic contact with the metallic etch stop; bonding the metal electrode formed on the second major surface of the first quartz substrate to a pad formed on a substrate bearing oscillator drive circuitry to form a bond there between; and dissolving the temporary adhesive to thereby release the second quartz substrate from the substrate bearing oscillator drive circuitry and a portion of the first quartz substrate bonded thereto via the bond formed between the metal electrode formed on the second major surface of the first quartz substrate to and the pad formed on the substrate bearing oscillator drive circuitry.

Quartz-based MEMS resonators and methods of fabricating same

In one embodiment, a multiband infrared (IR) detector array includes a metallic surface having a plurality of periodic resonant structures configured to resonantly transmit electromagnetic energy in distinct frequency bands. A plurality of pixels on the array each include at least first and second resonant structures corresponding to first and second wavelengths. For each pixel, the first and second resonant structures have an associated detector and are arranged such that essentially all of the electromagnetic energy at the first wavelength passes through the first resonant structure onto the first detector, and essentially all of the electromagnetic energy at the second wavelength passes through the second resonant structure onto the second detector. In one embodiment, the resonant structures are apertures or slots, and the IR detectors may be mercad telluride configured to absorb radiation in the 8-12 &#x3bc;m band. Detection of more than two wavelengths may be achieved by proper scaling. A method of forming an IR detector array is also disclosed.

Multi-band sub-wavelength IR detector having frequency selective slots and method of making the same

A method for fabricating a low frequency quartz resonator includes metalizing a top-side of a quartz wafer with a metal etch stop, depositing a first metal layer over the metal etch stop, patterning the first metal layer to form a top electrode, bonding the quartz wafer to a silicon handle, thinning the quartz wafer to a desired thickness, depositing on a bottom-side of the quartz wafer a hard etch mask, etching the quartz wafer to form a quartz area for the resonator and to form a via through the quartz wafer, removing the hard etch mask without removing the metal etch stop, forming on the bottom side of the quartz wafer a bottom electrode for the low frequency quartz resonator, depositing metal for a substrate bond pad onto a host substrate wafer, bonding the quartz resonator to the substrate bond pad, and removing the silicon handle.

Low frequency quartz based MEMS resonators and method of fabricating the same

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a cloverleaf microgyroscope containing an integrated post comprising: attaching a post wafer to a resonator wafer, forming a bottom post from the post wafer being attached to the resonator wafer, preparing a base wafer with through-wafer interconnects, attaching the resonator wafer to the base wafer, wherein the bottom post fits into a post hole in the base wafer, forming a top post from the resonator wafer, wherein the bottom and top post are formed symmetrically around the same axis, and attaching a cap wafer on top of the base wafer.

Cloverleaf microgyroscope with through-wafer interconnects and method of manufacturing a cloverleaf microgyroscope with through-wafer interconnects

Method of fabricating a low frequency quartz resonator

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a cloverleaf microgyroscope containing an integrated post comprising: attaching a post wafer to a resonator wafer, forming a bottom post from the post wafer being attached to the resonator wafer, attaching the resonator wafer to a base wafer, wherein the bottom post fits into a post hole in the base wafer, forming a top post from the resonator wafer, wherein the bottom and top post are formed symmetrically around the same axis, and attaching a cap wafer on top of the base wafer. The present invention relates further to a gyroscope containing an integrated post with on or off-chip electronics.

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Beverly Hills, CA, United States of America

Frederic P Stratton