Towards wall-coated microfabricated cells: Alkali vapor-cells using indium thin-film low-temperature bonding

Author

Straessle, R. ; Petremand, Y. ; Briand, Danick ; de Rooij, Nico F. ; Pellaton, Matthieu ; Affolderbach, Christoph ; Mileti, Gaetano

Author_Institution

Actuators & Microsyst. Lab. (SAMLAB), Ecole Polytech. Fed. de Lausanne (EPFL), Neuchatel, Switzerland

fYear

2012

fDate

23-27 April 2012

Firstpage

309

Lastpage

311

Abstract

We report on the realization and evaluation of micro-fabricated alkali vapor cells using a thin-film indium bonding technique. Optical and double-resonance spectroscopy performed on the cells demonstrates their suitability for atomic clock applications. Long-term measurements show a stable pressure inside the cells and therefore an excellent hermeticity of the bonding over several months. The low bonding process temperature of ≤ 140°C combined with good bond strength makes this method a promising candidate for realizing micro-fabricated alkali cells with anti-relaxation wall-coatings.

Keywords

atomic clocks; coatings; indium; metallic thin films; microfabrication; In; alkali vapor-cells; antirelaxation wall-coatings; atomic clock applications; double-resonance spectroscopy; hermeticity; indium thin-film low-temperature bonding; long-term measurement; optical spectroscopy; wall-coated microfabricated cells;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

European Frequency and Time Forum (EFTF), 2012

Conference_Location

Gothenburg

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-1924-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/EFTF.2012.6502389

Filename

6502389