Mechanical reliability of directly bonded silicon MEMS components

Duringe use, directly wafer-bonded devices such as acceleration sensors, gyroscopes, micropumps, or microvalves are oxposed to continuously or periodically acting mechanical stresses particularly due to vibration, thermo-mechnical mismatch, or internal and external pressures. For theses kind of applications an proven strength and long-term reliability is required. It will be shown in that pater that fracture mechnical approaches can be applied for strength and lifetime analys es of wafer-bondet devices. These approaches consider the influence of bonding defects, micromachined structures in the bonded interface, the fracture mechanical properties of the interface as well as the loading situation.