Patent ID: 7348193

Claim:
A method for making a hermetically sealed device, said method comprising the steps of: providing a substrate having thereon, separately or in any combination, optical, opto-electronic, electronic or micro-electromechanical (“MEMS”) elements, and including any electrodes or electrical leads, extending from said elements and/or on said substrate that can be used to establish electrical contact between said elements and separate additional devices or elements; providing a covering having a top portion with a first or top face and a second or bottom face and an extension having a thickness and a length that extends around the entire circumference or perimeter of the covering's top portion for a distance in one direction from the bottom face; providing an adhesive for bonding said covering to said substrate, including to any electrodes or electrical leads that extend from said elements on said substrate to separate elements or devices outside the chamber defined by the covering when bonded to substrate; bonding said covering to said substrate using said adhesive; and providing a sealing agent and applying said sealing agent to the area where said adhesive bonds said covering extension to said substrate to hermetically seal the optical, opto-electronic, electronic or micro-electromechanical elements within the chamber while allowing for passage of the electrodes and/or electrical leads from the elements within the chamber to separate additional devices or elements outside the chamber and wherein said method further comprises coating selected surfaces of a plurality of devices, said method comprising: placing a protective layer in contact with at least one selected surface of a first device and one selected surface of a second device; depositing a sealing/coating material on the surfaces of the device that are not in contact with said protective layer; and separating said devices and removing said protective layer to provide a device having coated selected surfaces.