Best Paper Award Runner-Up for MEMS-ASIC-Gesamtdesignmethodik

At the ”13th International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design” (SMACD 2016) on June 30th in Sevilla, Spain, IMMS received the Best Paper Award Runner-Up for their contribution “Systematic MEMS ASIC Design Flow using the Example of an Acceleration Sensor”. The honoured work is an outcome of the MEMS2015 research project which ended in 2015. In this project IMMS developed an approach that would combine and harmonise into a single whole the design of the mechanical and the electronic components of MEMS. Thanks to this novel composite design methodology, a MEMS can now be simulated and verified as a single unified system, so that errors can be recognised and remedied early. 

The design tool is a vital element in our work on computer-aided design of electromechanical sensors. This is software which was first created for unidimensional acceleration sensors in XM-SC, the SOI technology of X-FAB AG. The tool works on the basis of an algorithm developed by IMMS to compute the various mechanical design possibilities likely to match the customer's requirements. The tool is, furthermore, a resource providing sensor models which can be integrated into established design tools. It will generate the necessary mask layouts for the manufacturing stage.

In validation of this new methodology and the new tool, IMMS has used the content of the new tool to design an accelerometer (acceleration sensor with high-precision signal evaluation) and then characterise it after fabrication. In the context of the RoMulus project which began in 2015, the design tool (originally for a unidimensional sensor) is being extended to 2- and 3-dimensional sensors.

Honoured work: Dr. Jenny Klaus, Roman Paris, Prof. Dr. Ralf Sommer: Systematic MEMS ASIC Design Flow using the Example of an Acceleration Sensor.