Improved Vacuum Process for Advanced Inertial Sensors Using NanoGetters

It is proposed that new thin film gettering technology be applied to advanced inertial and gravity sensors to improve vacuum packaging. This new getter will be developed by NanoGetters, a subsidiary of ISSYS, and the only commercial getter supplier in the US, see: www.nanogetters.com. NanoGetters uses a stack of thin film metals to capture gas molecules in a vacuum package and was developed due to the short falls of conventional Non Evaporable Getters (NEGs). NanoGetter materials are already being used by more than a dozen customers in MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) to improve vacuum packaging of resonant gyroscopes, accelerometers, Coriolis mass flow sensors, density meters, RF-MEMS communication devices, IR and chemical sensors (6-10). NanoGetter films have been applied to silicon wafers, Pyrex wafers, Kovar package lids and sapphire optical lids. Due to this demonstrated flexibility to be applied to different surfaces, it is anticipated that we will be able to integrate these new getter films into a variety of vacuum packaging housings. With optimization and development this new getter technology can be applied to the RLG and AI sensor application and improve their performance and mobility.