Die-level glass frit vacuum packaging for a micro-fuel processor system

Vacuum packaging utilizing glass frit is investigated for the use with a micro-fuel processor. Enhanced device performance through proper thermal management motivates the need for a vacuum package on the micro scale. Constraints imposed by the design and fabrication of the micro-fuel processor deem glass frit bonding as the optimal method for packaging. The quality of the glass seal is dependent on the pre-sintering process as well as bonding parameters. Ideal pre-sintering of a lead-zinc-borosilicate glass tape, GPR-10 from Vitta Corp., has been achieved, and a vacuum bonding technique was optimized. The seal quality is determined visually with microscopy by comparing the size and quantity of voids present in the frit layer post-bonding. A package with a vacuum of <150mTorr was obtained but the seal quickly degraded. A new packaging scheme utilizing a two-step bond process is developed and evaluated. Bond optimization is applied to this process resulting in a hermetically sealed package. Hermeticity was not lost after heating the package at 450⁰C for 30+ hours. Final seal-off in a vacuum chamber was attempted with glass powders, glass preforms, and solders to no avail but preliminary results with solder appears promising.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Cheung, Kerry

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Martin A. Schmidt.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34112

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34112