Selection of high strength encapsulant for MEMS devices undergoing high-pressure packaging

Deflection behavior of several encapsulant materials under uniform pressure was studied to determine the best outer encapsulant for MEMS device. Encapsulation is needed to protect movable parts of MEMS devices during high-pressure transfer molded packaging process. The selected outer encapsulant material has to have surface deflection of less than 5 μm under 100 atm vertical loading. Deflection was simulated using Coventorware ver.2005 software and verified with calculation results obtained using shell bending theory. Screening design was used to construct a systematic approach for selecting the best encapsulant material and thickness under uniform pressure up to 100 atm. Materials considered for this study were SMC polyimide, liquid crystal polymer (LCP) carbon fiber and polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) high modulus carbon fiber. It was observed that PPS high modulus carbon fiber has deflection of less than 5 μm for all thickness and pressure variations. LCP carbon fiber is acceptable and SMC polyimide is unsuitable as high strength encapsulant. PPS high modulus carbon fiber is considered the best encapsulation material for MEMS under high-pressure packaging process due to its high strength. The generalized mathematical model and equations developed for predicting deflection of encapsulation under uniform loading could be used to determine the suitability of any candidate material and encapsulation design with similar domed shaped structure.