Simulation tools for microelectromechanical systems

Abstract

In this thesis efficient techniques to solve complex 3-D electromechanical problems are developed. Finite element discretization of complex structures such as the micromirror lead to thousands of internal degrees of freedom. Their mostly rigid motion is exploited leading to a mixed rigid-elastic formulation. This formulation's advantage is apparent when it is incorporated in an efficient coupled domain simulation technique and examples are presented exploring geometry effects on device behavior. Then for system level simulation where full device simulation costs add up we need models with much reduced order with little degradation in accuracy. We describe a model reduction formulation for the electromechanical problem based on implicit techniques which accurately capture the original model behavior.