Integration and Packaging Concepts for Infrared Bolometer Arrays
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Integration and Packaging Concepts for Infrared Bolometer Arrays Adit Decharat MICROSYSTEM TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY TRITA-EE 2009:030 ISSN 1653-5146 ISRN KTH/EE--09/030--SE ISBN 978-91-7415-337-8 Submitted to the School of Electrical Engineering, KTH−Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Licentiate of Engineering. Stockholm 2009 ii Integration and packaging concepts for infrared bolometer arrays Copyright © 2009 by Adit Decharat All right reserved to the summary part of this thesis, including all pictures and figures. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the copyright holder. The copyrights for the appended journal papers belong to the publishing houses of the journals concerned. The copyrights for the appended manuscripts belong to their authors. Printed by Universitetsservice US AB, Stockholm 2009. Thesis for the degree of Licentiate of Engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, 2009. ABSTRACT iii Abstract Infrared (IR) imaging devices based on energy detection has shown a dramatic development in technology along with an impressive price reduction in recent years. However, for a low-end market as in automotive applications, the present cost of IR cameras is still the main obstacle to broadening their usage. Ongoing research has continuously reduced the system cost. Apart from decreasing the cost of infrared optics, there are other key issues to achieve acceptable system costs, including wafer-level vacuum packaging of the detectors, low vacuum level operation, and the use of standard materials in the detector fabrication. This thesis presents concepts for cost reduction of low-end IR cameras. The thesis presents a study of detector performance based on the thermal conductance design of the pixel. A circuit analog is introduced to analyze the basic thermal network effect from the surrounding environment on the conductance from the pixel to the environment. A 3D simulation model of the detector array conductance has been created in order to optimize the performance of the arrays while operated in low vacuum. In the model, Fourier’s law of heat transfer is applied to determine the thermal conductance of a composite material pixel. The resulting thermal conductance is then used to predict the performance of the detector array in low vacuum. The investigations of resist as the intermediate bonding material for 3D array integration are also reported in the thesis. A study has been made of the nano- imprint resists series mr-I 9000 using a standard adhesive wafer bonding scheme for thermosetting adhesives. Experiments have been performed to optimize the thickness control and uniformity of the nano-imprint resist layer. The evaluation, including assessment of the bonding surface uniformity and planarizing ability of topographical surfaces, is used to demonstrate the suitability of this resist as sacrificial material for heterogeneous detector array integration. Moreover, the thesis presents research in wafer-level packaging performed by room temperature bonding. Sealing rings, used to create a cavity, are manufactured by electroplating. The cavity sealing is tested by liquid injection and by monitoring the deflection of the lid membrane of the cavities. A value for the membrane deflection is calculated to estimate the pressure inside the cavities. Adit Decharat, [email protected] Microsystem Technology Laboratory, School of Electrical Engineering KTH−Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden iv Integration and packaging concepts for infrared bolometer arrays CONTENTS v Contents Abstract List of papers 1. Introduction 1 1.1 General introduction ..............……………………………………………… 1 1.2 Objectives ….....................…………………………………….…………….. 2 1.3 Structure ……………………………………………………………………….. 2 2. Infrared imaging 3 2.1 Thermal radiation and atmospheric effect .....…………………………… 3 2.2 Infrared imaging system ..…………………………………………………… 4 2.2.1 Detector unit technology ..............…………………………………… 6 2.2.2 System noise ............…………………………………………………… 10 2.3 Infrared imaging for commercial applications ..….........………………… 12 3. Thermal imaging detector 15 3.1 Radiant energy transfer .…...................…………………………………… 15 3.2 Uncooled bolometer thermal detection ...................……………………… 16 3.2.1 Bolometer physics and figures of merit ............…………………… 17 3.3 Heat transfer mechanism ………………………………………………….. 19 3.4 Bolometer array operated in atmospheric environment ......…………… 21 3.4.1 Thermal conductance modeling of microbolometer arrays …..…. 23 3.4.2 Simulation result and array performance effect .....……………… 26 3.5 Discussion ...…………………………………………………………………… 28 4. 3D integration for infrared bolometer arrays 29 4.1 Introduction ....………………………………………………………………… 29 4.1.1 Transfer bonding for bolometer FPAs ...…………………………… 30 4.2 Polymers as bonding intermediate in 3D integration .………………….. 31 4.2.1 Nano-imprint resist in 3D integration of bolometer ..…………… 32 4.2.2 Experiments and evaluation of material ..………………………… 32 vi Integration and packaging concepts for infrared bolometer arrays 5. Room temperature packaging 37 5.1 Introduction to MEMS packaging ...................…………………………… 37 5.2 Wafer-level packaging .........….……………………………………………… 37 5.3 Room temperature micro-cavity sealing for bolometer arrays ………… 40 5.3.1 Cold welding conceptual packaging .……………………………….. 40 5.3.2 Sealing rings .......……….……………………………………………… 42 5.3.3 Experiments and evaluation of cavity sealing ..…..……………… 43 6. Summaries of the appended papers 47 7. Conclusions 49 Acknowledgement 51 References 53 Paper reprints 59 LIST OF PAPERS vii List of Papers 1. Performance Model for Uncooled Infrared Bolometer Arrays and Performance Predictions of Bolometers Operating at Atmospheric Pressure. Frank Niklaus, Adit Decharat, Christer Jansson, Göran Stemme Journal of Infrared Physics & Technology, vol. 51, pp. 168-177, Aug. 2007. 2. Wafer Bonding with Nano-Imprint Resists as Sacrificial Adhesive for Fabrication of Silicon-On-Integrated-Circuit (SOIC) Wafers in 3D Integration of MEMS and ICs. Frank Niklaus, Adit Decharat, Fredrik Forsberg, Niclas Roxhed, Martin Lapisa, Michael Populin, Fabian Zimmer, Jörn Lemm, Göran Stemme Sumitted to Sensors and Actuators (Physical) Journal. 3. Room-Temperature Sealing of Micro-Cavities by Cold Metal Welding. Adit Decharat, Junchun Yu, Marc Boers, Frank Niklaus, Göran Stemme Submitted to IEEE/ASME Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems. The contribution of Adit Decharat to the publications listed above is: 1. All simulations and part of writing 2. Part of experiments 3. Part of design and experiments and part of writing viii Integration and packaging concepts for infrared bolometer arrays The work has been presented at the following international reviewed conferences: 1. Uncooled Infrared Bolometer Arrays Operating in a Low to Medium Vacuum Atmosphere: Performance Model and Tradeoffs. Frank Niklaus, Christer Jansson, Adit Decharat, Jan- Erik Källhammer, Håkan Pettersson, Göran Stemme Proc. SPIE Infrared Technology and Applications XXXIII 2007, vol. 6542, pp. 65421M, April 2007. 2. Thermosetting Nano-Imprint Resists: Novel Materials for Adhesive Wafer Bonding. Michael Populin, Adit Decharat, Frank Niklaus, Göran Stemme Proceedings of the 20th IEEE International conference on Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS), Kobe, Japan, Jan 2007, pp. 239-242. 3. Novel Room-Temperature Wafer-to-Wafer Attachment and Sealing of Cavities Using Cold Metal Welding. Adit Decharat, Marc Boers, Frank Niklaus, Göran Stemme Proceedings of the 20th IEEE International conference on Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS), Kobe, Japan, Jan 2007, pp. 385-388. 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1 Introduction 1.1 General introduction To enhance the capability of seeing in difficult light conditions, substantial efforts are being made. One of the approaches is infrared (IR) thermal imaging where the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the objects is used to form an image. The infrared radiation covers spectral region ranges in wavelength from 0.75 μm to 1000 μm . The applications and technologies described in this thesis focus on the band of the wavelength beyond 1.4 μm. In principle, the IR detection mechanisms are divided into two groups; photon detection and energy detection. In the early days of IR imaging, only photon detectors were available while the energy detectors could not meet the performance criteria. Due to the relatively high price, high energy consumption and bulky size of the photon detectors, IR imaging usage was limited mostly to military applications. Despite the drawbacks, nowadays photon detectors are still used in some applications where the device performance is the main issue, such as in weapon platforms, in space observation instruments or in special medical instruments, with prices on the order of $50,000–150,000. Energy detectors, demand a fabrication technology for implementing the micro- scale pixels. During the last few decades, MEMS technology has emerged. This opens up for micro-scale detector manufacturing. This leads to a striking performance improvement of the detector, making it applicable for camera usage, leading to a new generation of low-cost IR cameras. Infrared cameras, with MEMS detectors based on energy detection, are small in size, consume less power and are much less expensive (typically $8000–15000),