Sébastien Cases

SoftMEMS

MEMS Design Flow

Moore’s laws …

1965 , the 1st ‘law’:

« Semiconductors complexity will double every year at constant

price »

1975: Moore altered his projection to

« doubling the amount of transistors on integrated circuits every

two years »

… Limitations and

Workarounds

Limitations:

Atom Size : 0.1 - 0.5nm

Photolitography : EUV, Multibeam Maskless, Nanoimprint

Thermodynamic Barrier : High Frequency

Last but not the least : Manufacturing costs

Workarounds:

Multi-core architectures

Asynchronous designs

Nothing Else ?!

There is plenty of Room …

on the Top

MEMS : Micro-electro-mechanical systems

SiP : System in Package

MEMS : An alternative

What are MEMS :

Sensors: Pressure Sensors, Inertial

Measurements Units (Accelerometers,

Gyroscopes).

Actuators: Ink-Jet heads, Switches

(RF or Optical), Scanning Mirrors

(DLP).

Why MEMS:

MEMS devices are manufactured

using batch fabrication techniques

similar to those used for integrated

circuits

Sourc

e: Analo

g D

evic

es

Sourc

e:

Univ

Colo

rado

Some Market Areas

over 4 decades

1980 1990 2000 2010

Consumer

Electronic

DLP

Automotive

Inkjet Heads

First MEMS Applications

Accelerometer Airbag System

Motion Control

Gyroscopes GPS

Roll Over

Vehicule Dynamic Control (ESP)

Pressure Sensors Engine Management

Hydraulic Transmission Control

Tire Pressure Monitoring System

Automotive

Pressure Sensor Altimeter

Silicon Microphone Voice sensing

Accelerometer User motion sensing

Gyroscope Hand jitter measurement

Stabilized camera sensors

Micromirror Picoprojectors

Microdisplay Low power display

RF switch and varicaps Tunable matching networks

BAW/FBAR filters WCDMA duplexers

Oscillators Timing references

Micro fuel cells Disposable fuel cartridge

Micro autofocus Autofocus

Consumer Electronic : Mobile

Phones Applcations

MEMS Market

MEMS Companies

MEMS R&D and Fabs in Europe

LETI

CNM

Fraunhofer

IMEC

CSEM

Problems & Solutions

MEMS Design Flows

Component

Designer

MEMS Design Team

Back End

Designer

Front End

Designer

IC part

System

Designer

Analysis

Designer

MEMS part

MEMS Design Team : Typical

Problems

No Natural Links between the Different Teams

Electrical Engineers are Not Familiar with FEA Solutions

Mechanical Designers are Not Familiar with IC Simulations

languages

No Software Links between the Different Teams

Schematics, Layouts, 3D Models, …, are Created

Manually and Independently

Difficult to Reuse the Results (FEA – IC)

14

MEMS Design

Structural

Fluid

Thermal

Electrostatic

Electrical

Magnetic

EMAG

MEMS Design : Typical

Problems

The Increasing Integration of MEMS Devices has

pushed the demand for CAD Tools to support Rapid

Design of Systems involving Physical Interactions

between Multiple Domains such as Electrical,

Mechanical, and Thermal.

16

Front End

Designer

IC part

MEMS Design Flow : Objective

17 17

Analysis

Designer

MEMS part

Component

Designer

Back End

Designer

System

Designer

Back End

Designer

MEMS Design Flow : Objective

Unify and Enable Exchange of Data between these

Multi-Disciplinary Teams

Introduce a Coherent Design Platform for MEMS

Inspired of Microelectronics Methodologies

Automatic Layout Generation

Fast and Accurate Simulations

Usage of Libraries

18

MEMS Design Flows

The Neanderthal Model

Design Process is not

optimized

Each Iteration is costy and

lengthy

New Prototype Idea ?

Draw Masks

Manufacture

Characterize

MEMS Design Flows

The Athenian Model

New Prototype Idea ?

Guess what Masks can

give you the designed

object in 3D

Manual Verification

Manufacture

Characterize

Iteration on lengthy FEM

Simulations

Validate FEM Problem

Draw 3D in CAD Tools

MEMS Design Flows

Modern Times Model : Top-down Methodology

Capture Schematic

Import Masks

DRC Verification

Generate Meshed

3D Model for FEM

LVS

Manufacture

Characterize

Extract Behavioral

Model

MEMS / IC

System Level

Simulation

Simulate MEMS

New Prototype Idea ?

Validate FEM Problem

Availablity of Simulation

Models

Modern Times Model : Bottom-up Methodology

MEMS Design Flows

DRC Verification

Generate Meshed

3D Model for FEM

Manufacture

Characterize

Extract Behavioral

Model

MEMS / IC

System Level

Simulation

New Prototype Idea ?

Validate FEM Problem

Draw Masks

Proposed MEMS Design Flow

Bottom-up Methodology

Top-down Methodology

Masks Design

3D Models

Device Level

Reduced Order Model

Subsystem Level

System Models

&Simulation

System Level

Modeling

System Layout Easy MEMS &

Verification

Layout

Editor

Process

Description

&

3D Model

Generator

Tools Architecture

Design Entry &

MEMS Libraries

Behavioral Model Generation

Schematic

Editor

Electronic

Simulator

Analytical

Equations

FEM

Simulations

MEMS Pro Architecture

T-Spice Pro L-Edit Pro L-Edit

Editor

2D/3D Modeler

S-Edit

Editor

T-Spice

Simulator

MEMS Libraries of

Symbols & Models Easy MEMS &

Verification

DRC

UPI

Technology

Manager

Reduced Order

Model

Generation

Equations Based

Model

Generation

Compact Model Builder

Oofelie MultiPhysics

MEMS Pro

From Design to Manufacturing

MEMS Pro Suite

Stand-alone PC based Design Product

Generic Product, Fully Customizable

Potentially Provides Support for

Additional Foundries MEMScAP (MUMPs)

Analog Devices (iMEMS)

Sandia (ITT)

MOSIS (NIST)

Seamless Design Flow from Schematic

to Simulation to Layout with Link to

OOFELIE Solver.

MEMS Pro Architecture

T-Spice Pro L-Edit Pro L-Edit

Editor

2D/3D Modeler

S-Edit

Editor

T-Spice

Simulator

MEMS Libraries of

Symbols & Models Easy MEMS &

Verification

DRC

UPI

Technology

Manager

Reduced Order

Model

Generation

Equations Based

Model

Generation

Compact Model Builder

Oofelie MultiPhysics

MEMS Pro : L-Edit

Layout Editor with MEMS

Design Capabilities

Full Custom Layout Editor

Fully Supports Curves and Non-

Manhattan Shapes

Supports GDSII / CIF

Formats

Import/Export DXF Files

MEMS Pro : L-Edit

MEMS Component Libraries EasyMEMS Libraries with

standard MEMS components

Design Rules Checker for MEMS Mixed MEMS and IC design

rule sets

Compatible with curves and non-Manhattan (all-angle) shapes

Compatibility checking between layout and fabrication capability

Technology Manager

Single Tool to define and

gather :

Material properties

3D process steps definition

MEMS Pro : 3D Modeler

Automatically Generates a

3D View of your Device

From the Layout Export in IGES or SAT

Technology Steps and

Cross Section Viewer Supports Stacks of Wafers

Electroplating command

Handles Bulk and Surface

micromachining

MEMS Pro : 3D Modeler

Supports MEMS and IC

Process steps as:

Wetiso / WetAniso Etching

Conformal Deposition

Implantation for

PiezoResistive Elements

MEMS Pro : 3D Modeler

Customizable for

Documentation needs:

Exploded Wafer Stacked view

3D Cross-Section

MEMS Pro : MemsModeler

Link between Component Designers and System

Designers Generates Behavioral Model of MEMS Component by using a

reduced order method on a Finite Element Model

Supports Structural, Electro-Structural and coupled Thermo-

Structural applications

Supports multiple language output (VHDL-AMS, Verilog-A and

C based T-Spice Model)

MEMS Pro : Model Generator

Generates T-Spice C-model of MEMS Component by

using user-defined Equations

MEMS Pro : T-Spice Pro

Schematic and Simulation Environment supporting: Mixed MEMS and Electronic Designs

Libraries of MEMS Devices

T-Spice Netlist Format

Optimization

Statistical Analysis

MEMS Libraries Mechanical Elements and

Actuators

Piezoelectric and

Piezoresistive Elements

Optical Elements

Thermal Elements

Sébastien Cases

sebastien.cases@softmems.com

Thank you