Stochastic Methods in Microsystems Engineering

Abstract

The main objective of this chapter is to present a stochastic modeling and simulation methodology for estimating the variation of functional parameters of MEMS devices as a result of fabrication tolerances. The approach used for achieving this objective is to implement in the simulation process the variations of the geometrical parameters caused by the fabrication dispersion as random variables and to model the influence of these variations on the performance of the simulated device. The proposed method is demonstrated using two test structures: a micro-com resonator and a passive micromixer. In each example there are underlined important characteristics of the proposed simulation method: the ability to predict variation ranges of functional parameters, the ability to improve the design in function of the fabrication process, and the possibility of obtaining more precise results than the traditional deterministic methods.