Numerical spring models for behavioral simulation of MEMS inertial sensors

Abstract

Design of springs is a very important step in the design process of inertial sensor. A procedure for computing the sprint stiffness for any single-chain configuration of beams and a translator which converts beam-based schematic representation of inertial sensor to higher-level behavioral representation are implemented. Combining the spring stiffness computation with the translator, sprint-mass behavioral models of inertial sensor are generated. The behavioral representation is used for rapid design-space exploration. Simulations of the higher-level behavioral representation is used for rapid design-space exploration. Simulations of the higher-level behavioral schematics are 10 to 100 times faster than simulation of the atomic-elements based schematics and the result match to within 5 percent.