Multi-discipline, multi-scale modeling of microsystems: an overview

Abstract

Increasing integration levels are the driving force towards systems-on-a-chip. Designing microsystems is an emerging discipline facing specific challenges, resulting from the heterogeneous nature of the components to be integrated. A successful model and a useful simulation must be able to encompass several disciplines, and to adequately describe the coupling among heterogeneous phenomena. The functionality often depends on phenomena taking place at largely different scales, both in space and in time, making multi-scale simulation a necessity. Adequate multi-scale, multi-discipline modeling is a pre-requisite for closed loop optimizers, automating microsystems design. This paper contains an overview of some recent developments in this area.