This paper reports a O-level or wafer-level thin film packaging technology for MEMS using polycrystalline silicon-germanium (poly-SiGe) as the base material complemented with a metal seal. Hermetic packages with a cavity pressure below 0.3 mbar are demonstrated on a SOl-based torsional-mode Si resonator. Monitoring the quality factor of these resonators revealed that the low pressure is retained for over 6 months while storing at ambient pressure and room temperature. Moreover, the package survived several months under harsh testing conditions with temperatures up to 125°C and 85% relative humidity. This thin film SiGe-based technology has large potential for the on-wafer packaging of a broad range of MEMS devices.
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