Wafer-Level Fabrication of Alkali Vapor Cells Using In-Situ Atomic Deposition

Published

December 14, 2020

Author(s)

Douglas Bopp, Vincent N. Maurice, John Kitching

Abstract

We demonstrate a new technique for filling microfabricated silicon and glass cavities with alkali vapors at the wafer-scale. A single etched silicon wafer contains an array of cavities containing alkali precursor materials offset laterally from the cell array. The wafer is heated to create an array of alkali droplets on an upper glass wafer, which is then translated laterally under vacuum and bonded to create the cells. This technique can be implemented in a commercially available bonding tool, allows the fabrication of cells with arbitrary buffer gas contents and pressures and can potentially produce cells with dimensions below 100 microns.

Citation

Journal of Physics: Photonics

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7647/abcbe5

Local Download

Keywords

chip-scale atomic clock, magnetometer, micromachining, vapor cell

Citation

Bopp, D. , Maurice, V. and Kitching, J. (2020), Wafer-Level Fabrication of Alkali Vapor Cells Using In-Situ Atomic Deposition, Journal of Physics: Photonics, [online], https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7647/abcbe5, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=930556 (Accessed October 9, 2025)