Setup of an ultra-high vacuum bonder for the encapsulation of quantum systems

Abstract:
The feasibility to achieve and maintain ultra-high vacuum (UHV) on chip-scale packages represents a major step towards the miniaturization of affordable and pocket-sized quantum systems. Various components, which are essential for these systems, are under research at the Institute of Micro Production Technology, including a hermetic micro-fabricated vacuum package. To achieve this, a UHV Bonder was developed and set up in its first initial iteration, capable of capsulating under UHV conditions and thereby providing a promising outlook for an integration of said components inside the package. A chamber base pressure of 8*10-9 mbar was reached without a bakeout before bonding and Au-Au samples have been successfully bonded at low temperatures (200 °C) with an applied pressure of 600N. Vacuum characteristics were analyzed using a residual gas analyzer (RGA), while the bonded samples were characterized through shear tests and examined with SEM