Structured Design Methods for MEMS

Engineering Design Research Laboratory
Department of Mechanical Engineering
California Institute of Technology
Mail Code: 104-44
1200 East California Blvd.
Pasadena, CA, 91125, U.S.A.

Research Overview:

In the past, the design of Micro-Electrical-Mechanical-Systems has been almost entirely trial and error, although MEMS structures have been fabricated for many years. Because of the complex relationship between mask shape and processed MEMS shape, several design and fabrication iterations are often required to refine a preliminary mask-layout. Designers with extensive MEMS fabrication experience can reduce the number of mask design iterations because they possess a detailed intuitive model of the etching process. However, a major goal of this work is to develop automated tools which can both reduce the number of iterations that are necessary for experienced designers, and allow designers who are not specialists in the art of MEMS fabrication to develop reasonably sophisticated designs with a small number of iterations. Furthermore, such automated tools will ultimately result in designs that are more robust with respect to process variations, and are thus most suited to large scale and low cost manufacturing.

Example 3-D Simulation Results from MEMS Research at Caltech

This material is based upon work supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation under NSF Grant Numbers ECS-9023646 and MIPS-9529675. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsor(s).

Last updated Tue Jul 11 09:52:37 PDT 2000
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