Miniaturization and Packaging of Implantable Biomedical Silicon Devices

Abstract

This chapter presents a new approach involving encapsulation of electronic components in a reduced form factor silicon box using wafer-level microelectronic processing. The aging population and health are strong drivers for research, and the miniaturization of microsystems offers tremendous opportunity for medical applications. The biocompatibility of a material could be defined as its ability to coexist with a biological environment without causing undesirable effects in the frame of a specific biomedical application. Hermeticity is a critical point for implantable medical devices because the life of electronics parts guarantees the life of the patients. In order to enforce ethical behavior among manufacturers of medical devices, various national and supranational regulatory organizations exist. Miniaturization in the field of sensors and electronic microsystems is a tremendous opportunity for implantable medical devices. Implantable medical devices face two challenges: miniaturization and biocompatibility.