This master thesis examines the design, manufacturing and characterization of a miniaturized ceramic pressure gauge to be integrated into a system for carbon isotope analysis. Carbon isotope analysis can be used to find traces of extraterrestrial life. Screen printing, platinum bond wire threading, milling, lamination and sintering processes have been developed in order to manufacture a robust, temperature stable and chemically inert component potentially integratable to the carbon isotope analysis system. With use of the Pirani principle, which measures the pressure dependent thermal conductivity of air, promising results have been observed. A relative resistance change of 6 % within the pressure range of 1-10 Torr has been observed. This is comparable to, and even greater than, previous studies. The device has a good response for the desired pressure range. The device sensitivity was studied with different currents and geometric parameters. The results showed that the sensitivity is highly dependent on current and air volume. The work has been done at the Ångström Space Technology Centre –­­ a research group within the Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University – which currently researches on microscale systems for, e.g., space exploration.

This thesis presents the development of wafer level vacuum packaging processes using Au-Si eutectic and glass frit bonding contributing to the improvement of packaging concepts for a variety of MEMS devices. In the first phase of this research, micromachined resonators and pirani vacuum gauges are designed for the evaluation of the vacuum package performance. These designs are verified using MATLAB and Coventorware finite element modeling tool. Designed resonators and pirani vacuum gauges and previously developed gyroscopes with lateral feedthroughs are fabricated with a newly developed Silicon-On-Glass (SOG) process. In addition to these, a process for the fabrication of similar devices with vertical feedthroughs is initiated for achieving simplified packaging process and lower parasitic capacitances. Cap wafers for both types of devices with lateral and vertical feedthroughs are designed and fabricated. The optimization of Au-Si eutectic bonding is carried out on both planar and non-planar surfaces. The bonding quality is evaluated using the deflection test, which is based on the deflection of a thinned diaphragm due to the pressure difference between inside and outside the package. A 100% yield bonding on planar surfaces is achieved at 390&ordm / C with a v holding time and bond force of 60 min and 1500 N, respectively. On the other hand, bonding on surfaces where 0.15&mu / m feedthrough lines exist can be done at 420&ordm / C with a 100% yield using same holding time and bond force. Furthermore, glass frit bonding on glass wafers with lateral feedthroughs is performed at temperatures between 435-450&ordm / C using different holding periods and bond forces. The yield is varied from %33 to %99.4 depending on the process parameters. The fabricated devices are wafer level vacuum packaged using the optimized glass frit and Au-Si eutectic bonding recipes. The performances of wafer level packages are evaluated using the integrated gyroscopes, resonators, and pirani vacuum gauges. Pressures ranging from 10 mTorr to 60 mTorr and 0.1 Torr to 0.7 Torr are observed in the glass frit packages, satisfying the requirements of various MEMS devices in the literature. It is also optically verified that Au-Si eutectic packages result in vacuum cavities, and further study is needed to quantify the vacuum level with vacuum sensors based on the resonating structures and pirani vacuum gauges.

Diplomová práce se zabývá studiem projektu tepelného spínače a dosažených výsledků. Zaměřuje se především na vývoj zařízení pro zkoušení tepelného spínače v podmínkách odpovídající prostředí planety Marsu. První část práce se zabývá především popisem vývoje zkušební komory určené pro simulaci extrémních podmínek, tj. nízkého tlaku a teplot, od předběžného návrhu až po konečnou podobu komory, která bude použita pro předepsané zkoušky. Práce popisuje také důvody úprav některých částí komory a uvádí návrhy řešení nepředvídaných událostí, které vznikly v průběhu testů. Cílem druhé části práce je návrh kampaně pro zkoušení tepelného spínače od úvodních zkoušek ověření základní funkčnosti komory, přes ověření vlastností a nastavení všech systémů měřícího zařízení, až po zkoušky na prvních vzorcích a závěrečném kvalifikačním modelu tepelného spínače. Dále se práce zaměřuje na postup vyhodnocení naměřených dat a jevů, které jej ovlivňují. Kalibrační zkoušky zařízení, systémů a postupu vyhodnocení naměřených dat, které byly provedeny na speciálně navržených náhradních vzorcích, jsou téměř u konce. Jakmile budou výsledky schváleny, zkušební komora i navržené postupy měření budou připraveny pro požadované zkoušení vzorků tepelného spínače.

Les oxydes sont des matériaux complexes possédant une physique riche et toujours au centre de nombreuses recherches. Parmi ces oxydes, les manganites ont retenu notre attention car ils présentent une transition métal-isolant abrupte en température, générant un très fort coefficient en température en conditions d’environnement standards. L’objectif de ce travail est de démontrer que ce fort coefficient peut être exploité pour l’amélioration des performances des jauges de pression de type Pirani qui subissent un certain essoufflement dans leur développement. La voie menant à l’aboutissement d’une telle jauge à base d’oxydes pose en revanche un certain nombre de limites technologiques à lever et auxquelles nous avons répondu. La première de ces limites concerne l’intégration des oxydes monocristallins sur silicium, que nous avons reproduite et étendue au cas des substrats de type SOI et GaAs. Nos procédés proposent de passer par deux techniques, l’épitaxie par jets moléculaire et l’ablation laser, pour assurer une croissance optimale de nos films sur ces substrats et d’assurer la reproductibilité de leur réponse en température, notamment la position de leur température de transition en accord avec l’état de l’art. L’épitaxie de ces oxydes génère un niveau de contrainte non négligeable qui n’a jamais été mesuré. En concevant divers dispositifs autosupportés, et en s’appuyant sur les considérations théoriques et des modélisations par éléments finis, nous avons pu quantifier la relaxation de cette contrainte importante et assurer près de 100% de reproductibilité des systèmes suspendus. Ces mêmes systèmes nous permettent de caractériser pour la première fois le facteur de jauge des manganites monocristallines par l’application d’une contrainte contrôlée par nanoindentation. Il est également démontré qu’ils constituent des jauges de pression Pirani à la sensibilité accrue de deux ordres de grandeur pour une consommation en puissance réduite. Des solutions permettant d’améliorer l’ensemble des aspects de ces jauges sont étudiées. / Functional perovskite oxides are of great interest for fundamental and applied research thanks to the numerous physical properties and inherent mechanisms they display. With the maturation of thin film deposition techniques, research teams are able to reproduce oxide films and nanostructures of great crystalline quality with some of the most remarkable properties found in physics, a state leading now to upper-level thoughts like their ability to fulfill industrial needs. This thesis work is an answer to some of the problematics that arise when considering the oxide transition from the research to the industrial world, by focusing on their integration for micromechanical devices (MEMS) such as sensors. In order to ease the access to MEMS manufacturing, it is of importance to allow the deposition of thin oxide films on semiconductor substrates. A first study show that these access bridges can be crossed when using appropriate buffer layers such as SrTiO3 deposited on Silicon or gallium arsenide – produced in close collaboration with INL by Molecular Beam Epitaxy - and yttria-stabilized zirconia directly grown on silicon by pulsed laser deposition, which adapts the surface properties of the substrate to perovksite-based materials. Formation of thin epitaxial and monocristalline films of functional oxides is thus allowed on such buffer layers. As an example, characterization of two mixed-valence manganites La0.80Ba0.20MnO3 and La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 demonstrates that both materials are of excellent crystalline quality on these semiconducting substrates and that their physical characteristics match the one found on classical oxide substrates like SrTiO3. Stress evolution in thin films, which has a major effect in epitaxial materials, is then addressed to quantify its impact on oxide microstructure viability. This work gives an identification of the most significant factors favoring stress generation in the case of the films we produced. Then, based on the deformation measurement of free-standing cantilevers made of manganites on pseudo-substrates, and with the support of appropriate analytical models, a new state of equilibrium is established, giving new information about the evolution of static stress from deposition to MEMS device manufacturing. Solutions to manage their reproducibility is then studied. From another perspective, free-standing microstructures made of monocristaline manganites were used to display the effect of dynamical strain on their electrical resistivity (piezoresistivity) and their inherent structures.Finally, a specific example of the capabilities of reproducible free-standing microbridges made of manganites is presented through the conception of a pressure gauge based on Pirani effect. Indeed, it is shown that the abrupt resistivity change this material exhibits near their metal-to-insulating transition creates high temperature coefficients in standard application environments that can be taken as an advantage to improve the sensibility and power consumption of such gauges whose development had significantly slowed down over the past years. A set of improvements on their sensitivity range and their signal acquisition is also presented. Combined to a specific and innovative package, it is also demonstrated that Pirani gauge capabilities can be enhanced and that the complete devices fulfill embedded application requirements.