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The design and modeling of microscale electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) is a unique engineering discipline. At small length scales, the design of resonators, gyroscopes, accelerometers, and actuators must consider the effects of several physical phenomena. MEMS devices and sensors may even utilize multiphysics phenomena for its very function or for increased sensitivity. To this end, the MEMS Module provides user interfaces for electromagnetic-structure, thermal-structure, or fluid-structure interactions. A variety of damping phenomena can be included in a model: thin-film gas damping, anisotropic loss-factors for solid and piezo materials, as well as anchor damping. For elastic vibrations and waves, perfectly matched layers (PMLs) provide state-of-the-art absorption of outgoing elastic energy.
Best-in-class piezoelectric and piezoresistive tools allow for simulations where composite piezo-elastic-dielectric materials can be combined in any imaginable configuration. The MEMS Module includes analyses in the stationary and transient domains as well as fully-coupled eigenfrequency, parametric, quasi-static, and frequency response analyses. Lumped parameter extraction of capacitance, impedance, and admittance and connections to external electrical circuits via SPICE netlists are made easy. Built upon the core capabilities ofCOMSOL Multiphysics, the MEMS Module can be used to address virtually any phenomena related to mechanics at the microscale.

NanoWire Modelling

Meshed solid model of a hexagonal array of nanowires and a randomly generated rough surface. The surface roughness has a Gaussian distribution to mimic the real surface of a processor chip package.
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The removal of heat from IC processors is achieved by attaching a heat sink to the microprocessor package and using either natural or forced convection. The inherent roughness of the mating surfaces severly impacts the performance of the cooling system since