Dynamic electro-thermal simulation of microsystems—a review

Bechtold, Tamara; Rudnyi, Evgenii B.; Korvink, Jan G.

doi:10.1088/0960-1317/15/11/r01

Cited by 76 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 100 publications

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“…A review of dynamic electrothermal simulation of Microsystems is provided in [204]. One method to reduce the size of a heat conduction problem is to adopt distributed R-C networks to represent the device.…”

Section: B32 Lumped Element Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single‐Chip Scanning Probe Microscopes

Sarkar

Mansour²

2015

Micro‐ and Nanomanipulation Tools

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Scanning probe microscopes (SPMs) are the highest resolution imaging instruments available today and are among the most important tools in nanoscience. Conventional SPMs suffer from several drawbacks owing to their large and bulky construction and to the use of piezoelectric materials. Large scanners have low resonant frequencies that limit their achievable imaging bandwidth and render them susceptible to disturbance from ambient vibrations. Array approaches have been used to alleviate the bandwidth bottleneck; however as arrays are scaled upwards, the scanning speed must decline to accommodate larger payloads. In addition, the long mechanical path from the tip to the sample contributes thermal drift. Furthermore, intrinsic properties of piezoelectric materials result in creep and hysteresis, which contribute to image distortion. The tip-sample interaction signals are often measured with optical configurations that require large free-space paths, are cumbersome to align, and add to the high cost of state-of-the-art SPM systems. These shortcomings have stifled the widespread adoption of SPMs by the nanometrology community. Tiny, inexpensive, fast, stable and independent SPMs that do not incur bandwidth penalties upon array scaling would therefore be most welcome. A method to increase the quality factor (Q-factor) of flexural resonators is introduced. The method relies on an internal energy pumping mechanism that is based on the interplay between electrical, iv mechanical, and thermal effects. To the best of the author's knowledge, the devices that are designed to harness these effects possess the highest electromechanical Qs reported for flexural resonators operating in air; electrically measured Q is enhanced from ~50 to ~50,000 in one exemplary device. A physical explanation for the underlying mechanism is proposed.The design, fabrication, imaging, and tip-based lithographic patterning with the first single-chip Scanning Thermal Microscopes (SThMs) are also presented. In addition to 3 DOF scanning, these devices possess integrated, thermally isolated temperature sensors to detect heat transfer in the tip-sample region.Imaging is reported with thermocouple-based devices and patterning is reported with resistive heater/sensors. An "isothermal electrothermal scanner" is designed and fabricated, and a method to operate it is detailed. The mechanism, based on electrothermal actuation, maintains a constant temperature in a central location while positioning a payload over a range of >35μm, thereby suppressing the deleterious thermal crosstalk effects that have thus far plagued thermally actuated devices with integrated sensors.

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Section: B32 Lumped Element Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single‐Chip Scanning Probe Microscopes

Sarkar

Mansour²

2015

Micro‐ and Nanomanipulation Tools

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“…The heat equation is a typical example of a parabolic partial differential equation, and although analytical solutions can be found for simple cases, in integrated circuit heat transfer problems, numerical solutions are preferable due to the multiplicity of heat generating sources and the nature of the medium being non-homogeneous. Numerical solutions use a mesh-or grid-like structure to perform a simulation that can be based on one of several methods, but the most suitable and accurate method is the FEM, since it is easy applicable to mediums possessing a multitude of boundary conditions and nonlinearities of thermal properties [13,14].…”

Section: Thermal Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(6.2) into a matrix equation, which must be solved iteratively. To solve this equation faster, a method called model order reduction (MOR) can be employed to find an approximation of lower order [13]. Lower order matrix equations can be calculated much faster, and it is also possible to rewrite those equations in a state-space format suitable to transform simplified heat-transfer models into equivalent electrical R or RC networks [8].…”

Section: Thermal Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automatic Layout Optimizations for Integrated MOSFET Power Stages

Guilherme

Horta

2015

Computational Intelligence in Analog and Mixed-Signal (AMS) and Radio-Frequency (RF) Circuit Design

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This chapter presents a design automation approach that generates automatically error-free area and parasitic optimized layout views of output power stages consisting of multiple power MOSFETs. The tool combines a multitude of constraints associated with DRC, DFM, ESD rules, current density limits, heat distribution, and placement. It uses several optimization steps based on evolutionary computation techniques that precede a bottom-up layout construction of each power MOSFET, its optimization for area and parasitic minimization, and its optimal placement within the output stage power topology network. IntroductionIn integrated audio power stages or power management units (PMG), it is necessary to design the layout of power transistors, but due to several technology design constraints and lack of investment in dedicated tools, this task has been mainly manual. Multiple constraints had hampered approaches based on parametric cells (pcells), respectively:• Design kits do not supply transistor pcells meeting ESD rules and guidelines;• Electromigration constraints of maximum current densities on metal tracks, vias, and contacts [1, 2]; • Design and manufacturing rules (DFM) specifically related with metal stress relief and etching effects [3].

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“…The rapid progress of MEMS technology strongly depends on the MEMS-oriented modeling methodologies and simulation tools (Senturia 1998;Fedder 2003;Bechtold et al 2005). There are several physical domains in the MEMS devices which makes it difficult to evaluate their performances.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A nodal analysis model for the out-of-plane beamshape electrothermal microactuator

Huang

2008

Microsyst Technol

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This paper introduces a nodal analysis model for the out-of-plane beamshaped electrothermal microactuators. The electrothermal microactuator is traditionally simulated with finite element method (FEM) due to the complex coupling of the electrical, thermal and mechanical problem. This complex problem is classified into two parts in this paper: the coupling electrothermal problem and the coupling thermomechanical problem. By utilizing the characteristic of the temperature distribution, the nodal analysis model for the coupling electrothermal behavior of the electrothermal microactuator is built. The model scale is much smaller than the finite element model, which results in less computational consumption. Then the coupling thermomechanical behavior, such as the shift of the heat flow from the bottom of each part of the actuator to the substrate due to its out-of-plane movement, is modeled to make the model more reasonable. Many other effects which remarkably influence the behavior of the actuator are also taken into account. This model is verified by available experimental results, and achieves an agreement.

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Dynamic electro-thermal simulation of microsystems—a review

Cited by 76 publications

References 100 publications

Single‐Chip Scanning Probe Microscopes

Single‐Chip Scanning Probe Microscopes

Automatic Layout Optimizations for Integrated MOSFET Power Stages

A nodal analysis model for the out-of-plane beamshape electrothermal microactuator

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