Open AccessFabrication of thermal‐based vacuum gauge
Author(s) -
Jung Ho,
Kim Tae Hyun,
Kim Kyung Tae,
Park Jae Hong,
Kim Hee Yeoun
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
micro and nano letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.25
H-Index - 31
ISSN - 1750-0443
DOI - 10.1049/mnl.2014.0378
Subject(s) - torr , microbolometer , fabrication , ultra high vacuum , vacuum level , wafer , materials science , pressure measurement , sensitivity (control systems) , gauge (firearms) , thermal , vacuum chamber , optoelectronics , optics , bolometer , nanotechnology , physics , electronic engineering , mechanical engineering , composite material , engineering , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , quantum mechanics , detector , meteorology , metallurgy , thermodynamics
The fabrication and evaluation of a wide‐range vacuum gauge for monitoring the pressure level inside an infrared focal plane array and a wafer‐level packaging (WLP) are reported. The proposed vacuum gauge has a microbolometer structure produced using the conventional surface micromachining process to achieve thermal isolation and high sensitivity. This structure has other advantages such as fast response time, a wider measurement range and easier integration to a Si substrate compared with other pressure sensors. The evaluation results show that the fabricated vacuum gauge has a linear dynamic range and a sensitivity of 10 −3 to 10 5 K/W/torr for vacuum pressures ranging from 10 −6 to 760 torr. Also, the response time to vacuum change is reduced from 0.11 s at 10 −5 torr to 15 ms at 100 torr. Therefore, the microbolometer‐based vacuum gauge has good potential for application in WLP, and it is possible to hermetically seal it with various read‐out integrated circuit substrates.