DEVICE FOR SUPPORTING A MEMS COMPONENT

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for supporting a MEMS component, especially a pressure sensor, having a substrate formed of a ceramic, a MEMS component on the substrate and walls forming a cavity for surrounding the MEMS component, in which the walls are formed from a machined ceramic cavity array.

Claims

1.-13. (canceled)

14. A device for supporting a MEMS component, the device comprising: a substrate formed of a ceramic material; a MEMS component on the substrate; and walls forming a cavity for surrounding the MEMS component, wherein the walls are formed from a machined ceramic cavity array.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the walls are connected to the substrate by adhesive bonding.

16. The device of claim 14 further comprising a lid formed from a machined stacked ceramic array.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the lid is connected to the walls by adhesive bonding.

18. The device of claim 14, wherein the walls have a thickness smaller than about 0.2 mm.

19. The device of claim 14, wherein the MEMS component is a pressure sensor.

20. An array comprising a number of the devices as recited in claim 14, wherein each device in the array is repeatedly arranged in rows and lines, wherein the number of devices in a row and/or a line is at least 2.

21. The array of devices of claim 20, wherein the lid is of substantially the same dimension with regard to the area as the substrate.

22. A system comprising the device of claim 14, and wherein a contact structure is provided to connect the MEMS component on the outside of the device.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the MEMS component is a pressure sensor.

24. A method for manufacturing a device for supporting a MEMS component, the method comprising the steps of: mounting the MEMS component on a ceramic substrate; and providing walls formed from a ceramic material surrounding a cavity for the MEMS component, the walls being part of a cavity array.

25. The method of claim 24, comprising adhesively bonding the walls to the substrate.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the device is manufactured in rows and lines in the form of an array for the device.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the device is cut out of the array.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the MEMS component is a pressure sensor.

29. A use of walls for surrounding a MEMS component, wherein the MEMS component is on a substrate, wherein the substrate is formed from a ceramic material, and wherein a ceramic cavity array is used for the walls.

30. The use of claim 29 wherein the MEMS component is a pressure sensor.

Description

[0026] In the following, the invention will be described in more detail with reference to an embodiment illustrated in the drawings, in which:

[0027] FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of an array of devices according to the invention;

[0028] FIG. 2 is a sectional side view of a further embodiment of the array of devices shown in FIG. 1; and

[0029] FIG. 3 is a top view of the array of FIG. 1 seen from top.

[0030] FIG. 1 shows a sectional side view of devices according to the invention. The devices are formed in an array with rows and lines. The device comprises a MEMS component 1 mounted on a substrate 2. The MEMS component 1 is wire bonded to two contact structures 3 formed as connection pads. The wiring bonding is an example, the bonding can be of any other known connection type. The MEMS component 1 is surrounded by walls 4. The walls 4 and the substrate 2 are made of a ceramic.

[0031] FIG. 1 shows how the devices are manufactured in an array and the walls 4 form a matrix cavity in the shape of a grid having the same spatial dimensions with regard to the surface as the substrate 2. The walls 4 are formed from a cavity array. The walls 4 are adhesively bonded to substrate 2 using an adhesive 5.

[0032] To obtain the single device from the array of devices shown in FIG. 1, the devices can be cut into single devices. Each of the walls 4 shown in FIG. 1 contributes substantially half of the thickness to one of the devices.

[0033] A further embodiment is shown in FIG. 2, where a lid 6 is adhesively bonded to the walls 4. The lid 6 is formed of the ceramic used for the walls 4 and the substrate 2. The lid 6 has the same dimensions with regard to the area of the surface as the matrix cavity grid of the walls 4 and the substrate 2.

[0034] FIG. 3 shows a top view of the array of FIG. 1 or 2 seen from top.

TABLE-US-00001 List of reference numbers 1. MEMS component 2. substrate 3. contact structures 4. walls 5. adhesive 6. lid 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96.