Testing in a vacuum

MEMS devices which by their nature need to work in vacuum or are sensitive to outside influences due to their unpackaged state, need to be tested in a vacuum chamber. The SUSS range of vacuum probe systems are always built to the exact needs of every application to guarantee the optimum environment for the device. Examples of such devices are optical MEMS and RF MEMS components. The systems can work in temperatures from -15°C to +150°C, ensuring a temperature uniformity of ±0.8 K and a stability of ±0.5 K. The vacuum chamber is prepared for 1 E-7 mbar Optical windows (1 at  top of chamber and 4 around the side) allow inspection and laser positioning. The specially designed vacuum ProbeCard allows probing with up to 80 needles. Manual, semi and fully automatic systems are available.

Testing Microbolometers

Microbolometers are increasingly used as IR sensing devices as due to operating at room temperature they are a cost effective alternative to the cooled MCT devices. The testing and characterization of these devices requires a vacuum environment, and typically involves exposing the device to a black body radiation source at a known temperature. A large observation window directly above the DUT allows exposure to the IR black body radiation source. IR sources at different temperatures are closely positioned above the device for characterization, and the system switches from one source to another on command from the control system. High speed production test is accomplished using an vacuum prober to step from die to die on the wafer which is held in a unique fixture capable of holding the wafer securely in the vacuum environment.

Click here to see a short video of a semiautomatic system
for testing microbolometers (4.9 MB wmv file)