The Future of Production Testing for MEMS—Environmental Sensors: Challenges and Solutions
ABSTRACT
Testing is a crucial step for MEMS environmental sensors. The role of these integrated sensors is becoming pivotal in several industry applications, fueled by the rising need for environmental monitoring and the implementation of strict regulations regarding air quality.
Whether the application is in consumer, automotive or medical electronics, these devices are required to provide accurate and real-time data about a combination of parameters, which include temperature, humidity, pressure, and gas presence.
As these sensors - like all other MEMS sensors - work as interfaces into the physical world, the key thing about their testing is giving physical stimulus into the devices, in order to activate the transducer inside them: The input is run through a transducer to convert into an electrical signal, which can then be processed.
What differentiates the test of environmental sensors is the demand for multi-stimuli application into the same sensor chip. As various combinations of “pressure + x” sensors have emerged to provide multi-parameter measurements, several elements of the environment have to come into the “pressure + x” sensor chips for their testing: pressure, gas, temperature, humidity.
Not only the sensors must be subject to several physical inputs, but these must often be applied simultaneously, to take into account the interplay between the different sensor units and the interaction mechanisms of multiple parameters.
In addition to that, a highly competitive market pushes the manufacturers to an effort to reduce the cost for test equipment and the test time.
A main approach to address these challenges consists in the adoption of test equipment able to perform the high-volume, single-insertion test and calibration of integrated environmental sensors measuring pressure, temperature, humidity, and gas.
Latest-generation test handlers incorporate universal test chambers in which multiple physical stimuli can be applied at the same time, to replicate realistic working conditions.
Fast switching between various pressure and/or temperature levels makes a comprehensive test and calibration process as efficient as possible.
This type of test setup also allows test processes and hardware in use to remain largely unchanged when switching from an application to another, as the test unit can be easily reconfigured inside the same base handler. The base handler itself is designed to support the reliable and robust handling of compact MEMS packages, which are typical for environmental sensors, especially in consumer applications.
BIOGRAPHY
Higor Batagin received his M.S. degree in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in 2012, in Brazil. With a postgraduate degree in Strategic Marketing Management and an Executive master’s degree in marketing and Sales, he moves to the Semiconductor Industry in 2019 as Sales Manager for the Semiconductor and MEMS Test Products business unit, to serve the customers based in the United States and expand SPEA's presence and business in this region.