Glasses for microsystems technology

For insulating and encapsulating silicon microdevices Pyrex glasses play an important role. The disadvantages of Pyrex glasses are their bad microstructurability and the relatively high anodic bonding temperature. When joining them with materials other than silicon there is the danger of microstresses and cracks in the boundary between these materials and Pyrex glasses. Therefore, we have developed two groups of microstructurable glasses with a wide range of thermal expansion coefficients. One type may be microstructured by a modified UV-lithographic technology, the other by using a NdYAG laser. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.