Developing a microresonator in IntelliSuite

In this recent paper in IEEE Electron Device Letters, IntelliSuite is used in the development of a single-crystal-silicon micromechanical resonator.  This bulk-mode resonator was designed to have a Q factor of 1.16 million for high frequency stability at a resonant frequency of 2.18 MHz.   IntelliSuite was used to validate this behavior for the specific resonator design.  Shown below is a schematic of the resonator and a contour plot of the displacement taken from the simulation in IntelliSuite.

Schematic and displacement results for resonator

Industry sponsorships at UCSC MEMS Design Course

Students at UC-Santa Cruz will be designing and fabricating MEMS devices in an upcoming Intro to MEMS Design course taught by Prof. Joel Kubby. The students wil use IntelliSuite to design and model their MEMS devices.

Prof. Kubby is currently looking for industry sponsors who will specify the device to be fabricated and will have access to student papers and presentations describing the device design.  For more information, contact Prof. Kubby at jkubby@soe.ucsc.edu.

RECIPE 3D – RIE/ICP etch simulator

RECIPE, IntelliSense’s RIE/ICP etch simulator, now has the capability to simulate wet and dry etching in 3D in IntelliSuite v8.5. This tool can simulate RIE, DRIE, ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma), and Bosch etching, as well as combinations of these processes. Combinations of anisotropic, isotropic, and directional processes can also be etched. RECIPE can help to predict etch lead and lag as shown in the picture below.

RECIPE can also be used to predict sidewall scalloping, footing, etch profiles, and sidewall angles. The Response Surface Methodology-based etch database and ability to account for machine and chamber variations ensure accurate results for any simulation.

IntelliSuite at Cambridge

Researchers at the University of Cambridge recently used IntelliSuite to assist with the design of a micromachined electrostatic charge sensor. The group used IntelliSuite to simulate various designs of the device and determine which design would give them the desired resonant frequency. An SEM of the variable capacitor used in the device is shown below.

SEM of variable capacitor

The paper, “A Resonant Micromachined Electrostatic Charge Sensor”, is part of the September 2008 edition of the IEEE Sensors Journal and can be downloaded here.

Nankai University’s application of Clean Room

In “A Novel Design Methodology for MEMS Device“, a paper submitted to the 2007 IEEE Conference on

Micropump modeled in IntelliFAB.

Nanotechnology, researchers from Nankai University discuss virtual modeling and simulation of MEMS devices. As part of the paper, the group uses the IntelliFab/FabViewer module of IntelliSense’s Clean Room package to simulate the fabrication process of a thermally-actuated micropump. The figure on the right shows the entire device including the bimetallic membrane and microvalves.

Shown below is the process flow used to construct the bimetallic membrane of the micropump. The bimetallic strip is electro-thermally actuated (passing a current heats up the bimetallic strip causing the membrane to deflect up and down). The group also plans to substitute the bimetallic actuator with a piezoelectric actuator.

Process flow for bimetallic membrane, automatically generated in IntelliSense’s Clean Room process modeling tools.

3D System Visualization in SYNPLE

SYNPLE, IntelliSense’s system-level simulator, includes some major upgrades in the latest version of IntelliSuite. The new bus-based auto-wiring feature makes it easy to wire up multiple elements and create schematics from the bottom, up. Users can also import finite element models to develop complex systems from the top, down.

SYNPLE now allows you to visualize your results in 3D, so that you can visualize the system response including the MEMS and  electronics in 3D. Shown below is an animation of a micromirror modeled in SYNPLE.

We’re proud of the fact that SYNPLE is the first schematic tool specifically designed for MEMS, and we’re currently working hard on more upgrades to be included in IntelliSuite v8.6. Watch out for more new features coming soon!

One-click meshing in IntelliSuite

Automeshed structure based on MUMPS template

One powerful new feature in IntelliSuite 8.5 is the automeshing engine that allows users to go from mask layout to meshed structure with one click.  Meshes can be automatically generated based on popular process templates (MUMPS, SUMMiT-V, SCREAM, etc), and users also have the ability to define their own templates.  The self-adapting mesh feature optimizes the mesh size for each part of the structure to ensure accurate simulations and reduce the compute time.

You can use the automeshing feature by selecting “Automesh from mask layout” in the Mesh toolbar in IntelliSuite’s 3DBuilder.

IntelliSuite Version 8.5

426 days in the making, 4 months of rigorous beta testing at select locations …. countless cans of soda, endless cups of coffee and green tea… our best version of IntelliSuite yet! Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, welcome to version 8.5 

Every corner of IntelliSuite has been updated, revamped or given a fresh new look. You will see performance, stability and interface improvements across the board. From a fresh pixel-perfect look to blinding speed improvements to brand new functionality, this is the best version of IntelliSuite, yet. There are upgrades round every corner. Here are some of our favorite:

• Robust, one click, all hex meshing. Instantly transform your masks into meshes (3DBuilder)
• Dynamic 3D cross-sectioning of MEMS virtual prototypes (IntelliFAB/FABViewer)
• Brand new interface for Multiphysics modules (TEM, EMag, Microfluidics)
• Atomistic level etch simulation (IntelliEtch)
• 3d RIE, ICP/Bosch etch simulation (RECIPE 3D)
• Advanced Fluid structure interaction capabilities (FSI)
• Multi-domain bus based wiring (SYNPLE)
• Schematic capture editor designed for MEMS (SYNPLE)
• Fast Impedance Extraction (EMag)
• Capability of multi-valent pH dependant reactions(Microfluidics)

This is the must have upgrade for MEMS designers everywhere.

MEMS on iTunes

From one of our favorite professors and MEMS personalities– Dr Pisano. Albert’s lectures are now available on the  iTunes University Podcast program.

IntelliSense Interview: Zooming in on MEMS design with EDA

Here is a recent interview that we did with Industrial and Embedded Systems. As the MEMS and Nano

Mirror Array

 industry matures, the number of components per chip is increasing. While we’ve seen the integration in terms of MEMS mirror arrays for display and telecom switching applications, the trend is spreading to RF-MEMS. There’s some interesting work being done by Clark Nguyen’s group at UC Berkeley. 

 

The design challenges for designing multiple components on a chip are going to be very different from those faced by designing a single component on a chip. The interaction between elements becomes increasingly important. Element cross talk becomes an important factor.. More about this later…

In the meantime here is the interview that we did with IES…  BTW, the image was generated using the latest version of IntelliFAB/FABViewer part of our Clean Room suite of process simulation and visualization tools.