Effects of getters on hermetically sealed micromachined cesium-neon cells for atomic clocks

International audienceThe wafer-level integration technique of PageWafer R (SAES Getters' solution for getter film integration into wafer to wafer bonded devices) has been tested in fermetically sealed miniature glass-Si-glass cells filled with Cs and Ne, e.g. for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) atomic clock applications. Getter effects on the cell atmosphere are analyzed by quadruple mass spectroscopy and coherent population trapping (CPT) spectroscopy. The quadruple mass spectroscopy revealed that the residual gases (H2, O2, N2 and CO2) that are attributed to anodic bonding process are drastically reduced by the getter films while desirable gases such as Ne seem to remain unaffected. The impurity pressure in the getter-integrated cells was measured to be less than 4 × 10−2 mbar, i.e. pressure 50 times lower than the one measured in the cells without getter (2 mbar). Consequently, the atmosphere of the getter-integrated cells is much more pure than that of the getter-free cells. CPT signals obtained from the getter-integrated cells are stable and are, in addition, similar to each other within a cell batch, suggesting the strong potential of applications of this getter film and especially for its wafer-level integration to MEMS atomic clocks and magnetometers