A System-Model-Based Design Environment for 3D Simulation and Animation of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)

We will describe recent advances in CoventorWare ARCHITECT TM , a comprehensive MEMS design and simulation environment. In ARCHITECT, MEMS designers work in a schematic driven environment using symbols that represent individual components or elements of components. These symbols are connected and parameterized in the schematic to represent a three dimensional MEMS device. The schematic symbols and the mathematical models that they represent enable exploration of the parametric design space in seconds or minutes with accuracy that rivals finite element analysis. Previously, schematic-driven MEMS design environments, while extremely fast, had a fundamental obstacle to widespread acceptance: they lacked a three-dimensional view. The three-dimensional geometry was represented abstractly with symbols and parameters, and the simulation results were two-dimensional plots of individual degrees of freedom of the structure. In this article we describe a new companion 3D visualization tool, Scene3D that, when combined with fast simulation speed of ARCHITECT, provides unprecedented insight into the complex dynamic behavior of MEMS devices. Scene3D is useful both during schematic creation and for quickly interpreting simulation results. From a user perspective, "one button click" creates 3D views of any ARCHITECT schematic and enables designers to visualize simulation results in colorful three-dimensional animations that make it much easier to understand the dynamic behavior of a MEMS device.