BY K.

PRASHANTH KUMAR (08AN1A0432)

BALAJI INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCES LAKNEPALLY , NARSAMPET , WARANGAL

Micromechanical systems can be combined with microelectronics, photonics or wireless capabilities new generation of Microsystems can be developed which will offer far reaching efficiency regarding space, accuracy, precision and so forth. Micromechanical systems (MEMS) technology can be used fabricate both application specific devices and the associated

micro packaging systems that will allow for the integration of devices or
circuits, made with non-compatible technologies, with a System- on-Chip environment. The MEMS technology can be used for permanent, semi permanent or temporary interconnection of sub modules in a System- onChip implementation. The interconnection of devices using MEMS technology is described with the help of a hearing instrument application and related micropackaging.

INTRODUCTION MEMS ACCOUSTICAL SENSOR ARRAY FOR A HEARING INSTRUMENT

BEAM FORMING USING MICROPHONE ARRAY

MEMS MICROPACKAGING SOLUTION

DIE TESTING CONFIGURATION

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES CONCLUSION REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTIN

MEMS technology has enabled us to realize advanced micro devices by using processes similar to VLSI technology.

When MEMS devices are combined with other technologies new generation of innovative technology will be created. MEMS DEVICES + OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

||
NEW GENERATION OF INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY

Such technologies will have wide scale applications in fields ranging from automotive, aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, bio-medical and so forth.

In this application an array of capacitive type sensors are used in a hearing instrument to provide dynamic directional sensitivity and speaker tracking and can be completely

implanted in the ear canal. The directional sensitivity is

obtained by the method of beam forming. The microphone array is developed using MEMS technology and which can be

used to form beam to provide directional sensitivity.

The microphone array consists of nine capacitor type

microphones arranged in a 3*3 array and utilizes the classical phased array technique for beam forming.

In this

technique, the relative delay or advance in signal

reception is eliminated by applying a delay or advance is that

the signal out puts from different microphones can be added to

form a beam as shown in figure .

Beam pattern of a transducer array: normal beam

It is also possible to steer the direction of the beam by providing additional delay factor that is equal to the negative of the relative delay to the out put of each microphone in the array when a signal arrives from that direction. Figure . illustrates the beam steering concept.

Similarly, it is possible to form multiple beams out of the single array employing different delay factors and use such beams to scan the direction of the potential speaker. This scanning beam can

easily realized by continuously steering the beam from top to

bottom or from left to right by dynamically changing the steering delay using digital filters. An algorithm will detect a speech

signal above some threshold level and will steer the main beam
towards that direction. The block diagram for such a system is shown in figure.

Block Diagram of Hearing Aid Instrument

To avoid spatial aliasing at all steering angles the spacing d between

the microphones of the array is required to be

D < c/ = c/2f

= /2

Where is the wavelength of the incident acoustical signal and f is the frequency in Hz. c is the velocity.

If the sensor array is to be inserted inside the ear canal, the spacing between the microphones will be much smaller than the required.

This constraint can be overcome by introducing additional delay

factor to compensate for the difference in delay due to the required spacing d and the delay due to physical microphone spacing.

MEMS MICROPACKAGING SOLUTION

The MEMS technology can be used to create necessary structures for

die level integration of MEMS devices or components and CMOS

or non-CMOS, like BJT, GaAs, and Silicon-germanium devices.

The basic structure of the proposed mechanism is a socket submodule (figure ) that holds a die or device. The required no of submodules can be stacked vertically or horizontally to realize a completely system in a micropackage.

Connectivity between submodules is achieved by means

of microbus card (figure.) constructed with heat deformed, gold coated polysilicon cantilever microspring contacts and

platinum

coated

microrails

fabricated

inside

an

interconnection channel that is presented in each socket submodule. An illustration of the micropackaging system is shown in figure

Microorganisms and moisture inside the ear canal may contaminate the microsensor array. This can be helped by the submodule type sensor array, which can be removed easily for

cleaning or replacement.

The submodules are connected by means of a MEMS microbus with gold coated polysilicon cantilever microspring contacts and platinum coated microrails fabricated inside

an interconnection channel that is presented in each socket

submodule. Figure shows the 3D model of microbus

The concept of socket submodules and connectivity can also be used in a die testing platform. The establishment of temporary connectivity for testing a die without exposing the die to otherwise harmful energy sources or contaminations

during the test cycles is a major technological challenge. The

MEMS submodule can be reconfigured to establish

temporary connectivity for die testing with out exposing the die to any contamination while carrying out necessary test procedures

In this set up, two different type of MEMS sockets are used: a fixed

one connected permanently to a Tester-on-Chip (ToC),which is a die

testing SoC using an enabling goldto-gold thermo sonic bonding technology and a removable socket that acts a die specific carrier. The contact springs on both sides of the removable socket undergo deformation due to a compression mass on the top

of the die and generate the necessary contact force. The removable
MEMS socket can be redesigned to connect a die that is larger than the ToC. This makes the system a flexible one. The major design

objectives of contact spring mechanism is to develop a proper

contact force, low-contact resistance, small area, and short contact path while having the ability to tolerate some torsional misalignment. Another important requirement is to maintain the

contact surface that will remain reasonably flat even under

torsional deformation to realize a higher contact area. Based on these constraints designs two of contact springs are given in figure .

High efficiency Cost effective Flexible High accuracy precision

Complex design Complex fabrication procedures

MEMS technology offers wide range application in fields like biomedical, aerodynamics, thermodynamics and

telecommunication and so forth. MEMS technology can be

used to fabricate both application specific devices and the associated micropackaging system that will allow for the

integration of devices or circuits, made with non compatible technologies, with a SoC environment.

Sazzadur

Choudhury,M.

Ahmadi,

and

W.C.

Miller

Micromechanical system for System-on-Chip Connectivity, IEEE Circuits and Sytems, September 2002

New battery may jump-start MEMS usage, ISA InTech April

2002

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