Recent New Developments in the Numerical Simulation of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems

Dr. Subrata Mukherjee
Professor
Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
Ford Motor Company
Cornell University

Date:  Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Time:  3:30 p.m.
Place:  105 Othmer Hall

This talk presents two exciting new developments in the numerical simulation of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS). MEMS of interest here are movable mechanical micro-structures containing very thin (h/L ~ O(.001 - .01)) beam or plate shaped conductors that are deformed by the action of external electric fields. These computations have been traditionally carried out by a combined Boundary Element – Finite Element Method (BEM/FEM) approach – with the BEM (in the deformed geometry) used to compute the external electric field and the FEM (in the undeformed geometry) used for the mechanical analysis of the structure.

The two new innovations are as follows. (1) A Lagrangian framework (in the undeformed geometry) is employed for both the electrical and mechanical analyses. (2) A new BEM formulation is developed that is ideally suited for the analysis of the region exterior to very thin beams and plates. The advantages of these new ideas are discussed and numerical results for selected examples are presented in this talk.