As the core components of modern inertial navigation and motion sensing systems, MEMS inertial sensors play a critical role in determining the reliability and performance of applications such as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attitude control, industrial robot positioning, and vehicle navigation systems (Contreras et al., 2025; Li et al., 2024). Currently, market demand for MEMS inertial sensors exhibits a trend of polarization. On one end, consumer-grade products emphasize aggressive cost reduction and further miniaturization. On the other, industrial-grade and tactical-grade devices are pushing performance boundaries toward arcsecond precision levels (Senhaji-Mouhaddib et al., 2024; Harindranath and Arora, 2024). Especially, tactical-grade inertial sensors have higher accuracy and more complex working conditions, often involving small military drones and armored vehicles. Packaging design has emerged as a key factor affecting critical parameters such as bias stability, noise density, and long-term reliability (Del Sarto, 2022; Yang et al., 2024). The evolution process of packaging structures for MEMS inertial sensors can be seen in Figure 1.

The packaging of MEMS inertial sensors has undergone three distinct developmental stages. In the early phase (2000–2010), epoxy molding compound (EMC) packaging was predominant, facilitating the widespread adoption of MEMS sensors in consumer electronics due to its low-cost and scalable manufacturing processes (Yang et al., 2024; Schreier-Alt et al., 2011). During the intermediate phase (2010–2020), the commercialization of ceramic packaging and three-dimensional stacking technologies significantly enhanced the performance of industrial-grade sensors, achieving improvements in accuracy by one to two orders of magnitude (Dean et al., 2011; Dong et al., 2015). In the current stage (2020 to present), advances in vacuum sealing, heterogeneous integration, and intelligent packaging have enabled tactical-grade devices to approach the quantum noise limit (Gong et al., 2024; Edinger et al., 2023; Lau, 2023). This substantial performance improvement has been accompanied by a transition in packaging materials from epoxy resin to titanium alloy, and a shift in the internal environment from atmospheric pressure to ultra-high vacuum conditions (InvenSense, 2016; Analog Devices, 2019; Honeywell, 2018).

However, the underlying correlation mechanisms between packaging design and precision performance have yet to be systematically deconstructed. Most existing studies tend to focus on the localized optimization of individual packaging parameters, such as thermal resistance or the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) (Qi et al., 2025), while lacking a comprehensive analysis of the coupled effects arising from thermal, mechanical, and electrical multiphysics interactions. For instance, although CTE mismatch in polymer-based packaging materials is widely acknowledged as a primary contributor to temperature-induced drift in consumer-grade sensors, recent experimental findings indicate that moisture ingress at the packaging interface can induce plastic deformation in these materials (Han et al., 2023), thereby exacerbating the nonlinear drift in long-term bias. Similarly, while the ceramic substrates commonly used in industrial-grade sensors help mitigate thermal stress, their inherently high stiffness can amplify the transmission of external mechanical vibrations, leading to modal coupling and interference with the MEMS structure (Nia and Kouki, 2024). In the case of tactical-grade sensors, although vacuum packaging effectively suppresses gas damping noise, the ultra-high vacuum environment can trigger material outgassing, contaminating the MEMS surface and resulting in a gradual, time-dependent degradation of the quality factor (Guo et al., 2021).

This study selects three representative MEMS inertial sensors at different performance levels—consumer-grade (MPU9250), industrial-grade (ADIS16470), and tactical-grade (HG1930)—to systematically review and analyze the relationship between packaging structure and service performance. The discussion is carried out from multiple perspectives, including material properties, structural topology, and process parameters, in order to clarify how packaging influences key performance characteristics across different precision tiers. The findings aim to provide a technical foundation and design reference for future MEMS packaging solutions in high-performance application scenarios.

The packaging of MEMS inertial sensors plays a pivotal role in maintaining their performance stability and operational reliability. Beyond its basic function as a physical enclosure, packaging can mitigates environmental disturbances and filters internal noise sources (Xu et al., 2024).

In the consumer electronics sector, QFN and Land Grid Array (LGA) packages are the dominant formats for MEMS inertial sensors. For instance, the MPU9250 developed by InvenSense utilizes a compact 4 × 4 × 1 mm³ QFN package, which is widely integrated into smartphones, wearable devices, and other portable electronics due to its small footprint and lightweight design (Mischie and Matiu-Iovan, 2024). However, the epoxy molding compound used in this type of packaging exhibits a high coefficient of thermal expansion, which significantly mismatches that of the silicon-based MEMS chip. During thermal cycling, this mismatch generates considerable interfacial shear stress, leading to mechanical deformation and stiffness drift in the MEMS cantilever structures. Such effects substantially degrade sensor accuracy and limit the applicability of QFN-packaged sensors in thermally sensitive environments (Hollstein et al., 2021).

Compared to consumer-grade products, industrial-grade MEMS inertial sensors impose stricter requirements on packaging reliability and long-term stability. A representative example is the ADIS16470 developed by Analog Devices, which employs a Ceramic Leadless Chip Carrier (CLCC) package (Analog Devices, 2019). The alumina ceramic substrate used in this design has a CTE of approximately 6.5 ppm/°C, closely matching the thermal expansion behavior of silicon-based MEMS structures. In addition, low-stress bonding using gold-tin (Au80Sn20) eutectic solder significantly reduces thermally induced deformation by over 60%, thereby enhancing both sensor performance and durability under complex industrial operating conditions. The hermetic nature of CLCC packaging further contributes to environmental robustness, offering effective protection against dust, moisture, and corrosive gases commonly encountered in industrial settings (Chen Y. et al., 2022).

In tactical applications where exceptional accuracy and stability are required, MEMS inertial sensors are typically enclosed in metal housings made of titanium alloys or Kovar (Honeywell, 2018). These packaging materials provide outstanding mechanical strength and electromagnetic shielding, while enabling high-vacuum environments to effectively suppress gas damping effects on the MEMS resonant structures. This contributes to enhanced sensitivity and improved resistance to external disturbances, thereby satisfying the stringent performance demands of aerospace and military navigation systems. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity of metal packaging is approximately 40% higher than that of ceramic counterparts, allowing for more efficient heat dissipation during sensor operation and reducing the risk of performance degradation due to localized overheating (Han et al., 2023). To further ensure operational integrity under extreme conditions, tactical-grade packaging commonly incorporates multi-layer stress-buffering structures and redundant design elements (Zotov et al., 2021; Analog Devices, 2014), which help maintain signal integrity and measurement accuracy even under severe mechanical shocks (e.g., accelerations exceeding 10,000 g) and wide operating temperature ranges from −55°C to 125°C. The performance and features comparison of packaging structures for three typical MEMS inertial sensors can be seen in Table 1.

This paper systematically reviews the impacts of packaging structures, material selection, and process parameters on the operational performance of MEMS inertial sensors across different precision levels. Through multi-angle and multi-level analysis, it emphasizes the critical role of packaging in mitigating environmental interference, reducing internal noise, and enhancing mechanical stability, while revealing the coupling relationship between electronic packaging technology and the service performance of MEMS inertial sensors.

Meanwhile, this paper also looks ahead to the electronic packaging and signal processing technologies of next-generation inertial sensors, such as wafer-level packaging technology, heterogeneous integration technology, and intelligent packaging technology. Intelligent packaging technology, which realizes real-time compensation and early warning by adopting AI, will further promote the development of sensors towards adaptive intelligence in the future. These innovative technologies will be crucial for meeting the stringent requirements of advanced application fields such as autonomous navigation, deep space exploration, and quantum positioning systems.