Patent ID: 7238546

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a cover assembly that can be hermetically attached to a micro-device package base to form a hermetically sealed micro-device package, the cover assembly including a transparent window portion and a frame, the method comprising the following steps: providing a frame including a frame seal-ring area circumscribing the periphery of the frame; providing a sheet of a transparent material having a window portion defined thereupon with a sheet seal-ring area circumscribing the window portion; positioning the frame against the sheet such that at least a portion of the frame seal-ring area and at least a portion of the sheet seal-ring area contact one another along a junction region that circumscribes the window portion; pressing the frame against the sheet with sufficient force to produce a predetermined contact pressure between the frame seal-ring area and the sheet seal-ring area along the junction region; heating the junction region to produce a predetermined temperature along the junction region; and maintaining the predetermined contact pressure and the predetermined temperature until a diffusion bond is formed between the frame and sheet along a substantial portion of the junction region.