One novel MEMS integrated design tool with maximal six design flows

The design flow in current commercial MEMS CAD software is usually unified in either top-down or bottom-up design method, which can not satisfy the various design requirements for many different MEMS devices by now. This paper established one MEMS CAD prototype system with total six design flows, by far the number of which is the maximal under the current popular MEMS CAD structure. The design tool includes three levels, i. e. system, device and process level, which took the netlist, solid model and layout as the design data flow inlet and outlet for each level separately. The algorithm and program were designed to realize the data auto transmission between every two levels, which built up the foundation of the total six design flows. Especially the design flow from the system to device level and finally to the process level was firstly realized. It realized the conceptive synthesis from the MEMS device's function to their geometry, which could greatly reduce the iteration of design. The design examples showed that the designers could choqse proper design flows for specific devices with this tool, thus design efficiency was improved.