Optimum Design of Microelectromechanical Systems

Abstract

MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) are microscopic mechanical systems coupled with electronic circuits; they are manufactured using processes known from the semiconductor industry. Examples of MEMS are air-bag sensors, hearing aids, and devices for surface characteriza-tion. Up to now, design of MEMS has been based on intuition, scal-ing of existing designs, and trial-and-error approaches. A promising approach to systematic design of MEMS is topology optimization. This paper describes the extensions of the topology optimization method that are required to design various MEMS modeled in multiple phys-ical domains. The extensions include interpolation schemes for multi-material structures, geometrically nonlinear modeling, and sensitivity analysis for coupled problems. Examples demonstrate the systematic design of compliant mechanical converters and multi-degree-of-freedom, electrothermomechanical actuators.