Thinning Technology of Patterned Silicon Wafer for Micro Pressure Sensor

Abstract

Recently, the research of the gene using the transgenic mouse has been performed for the development of new medicines. However, 600,000 kinds of mice are produced for the elucidation of each gene function. For this reason, the intelligent microchips have been developed to obtain an individual identification and biological information. The ventricular rate of a mouse can be monitored by the micro pressure sensor mounted on the intelligent microchip. In this research, the detailed structure and functions of the micro pressure sensor were investigated by the FEM analysis, and the sensor-chips were manufactured on 6-inch silicon wafer. The wafer thickness had to be reduced owing to the size restriction of the intelligent microchip. The grinding of the 6-inch silicon wafer with 560 µm in thickness with 19200 sensor-chips was carried out by the newly developed thinning technology. After the basic characteristics of a sensor-chip were evaluated, the output profile containing small peaks corresponding to the heartbeat of a transgenic mouse was finally detected using a mounted sensor-chip.