Tailored modeling of microdevices and systems using thermodynamic methods

Abstract

In the development and production of miniaturized electronic devices and transducers, computer simulations constitute a cost-effective and time-economizing alternative to the traditional experimental approach by "straightforward trial and error". Application-oriented modeling not only helps the designer in understanding the "inner life" of the individual components and their cooperation in a circuit or microsystem, but it also assists him in making decisions with a view to finding optimized microstructures under technological and economical constraints. The ambitious long-term goal is the automated optimization of microsystems according to customer-supplied specifications in a computer-based "virtual factory" prior to the real fabrication. Currently several attempts are being made to build up a "CAD tool box" for top-down and closed-loop simulation of microsystems. Using the concept of "tailored modeling", which is based on established thermodynamic methods, specific problems of microtransducer modeling such as the consistent formulation of transducer effects, the consistent treatment of coupled fields, and methodologies for fast and reliable model validation can be tackled in a practical way.