Another essential requirement is a continuous design flow from front- to back-end. By seamlessly combining the electromechanical and IC design environments, the kit will eliminate the confusion and inefficiency of going back and forth between the two. As a result, a MEMS design can flow seamlessly from structural model to layout, with multidisciplinary teams including mechanical, electrical, component, and system teams, working together in the same environment and directly sharing results. And, if there are interfaces to specific foundries, a fast track from design to market is almost a sure bet. The Mentor-MEMSCAP kits, for example, will support several foundries including MCNC; Bosch, Reutlingen, Germany; Austria Mikro Systems, Graz, Austria; and SensoNor, Horton, Norway.
"One of the biggest limitations to continued growth of the MEMS user base is the fact that with existing design systems you have to be a rectangle-pusher." At least that's how Karen W. Markus, director of the MEMS technology Applications Center at MCNC sees it. She continues, "The limited tools that are available to help a MEMS designer require that person to have at least a basic idea of CAD layout and the process being used."
Markus contends that a vast, untapped market exists in systems designers, people who think in terms of black boxes that capture all the behavioral and intrinsic information. "The engineering design kits currently under development by MCNC and its partners will provide these black boxes and the supporting design framework to the systems design community, opening the door for their participation in MEMS foundry activities. This has the potential to spark an additional level of interest and product introduction beyond the current frenzy," says Markus.
To move MEMS up the design chain, support for design IP is necessary. This is especially important for designers new to MEMS. Intellectual property provides more general-purpose ready-made pieces to help jump-start the design. As a result, instead of laboriously creating a device by pushing polygons, the designer can use MEMS IP to significantly streamline the design effort. This makes it easier for those new to this type of design to efficiently produce a viable MEMS application. The designer can still zero in on crucial areas at the device level, and work with field solvers. However, once the designer is satisfied, lower-level information can be automatically translated into an analog HDL, and integrated with other IP at the system level.
Dr. Beernaert of the European Commission emphasizes the pressing need for reusability, "Currently, every new MEMS application is a new process, a new device design that starts from scratch. This is very inefficient, very expensive, and is asking for mistakes to be made. Having interfaces in the form of IP to specific foundries, and qualified, debugged MEMS building blocks will be critical for faster development times, and for increasing the chances of immediate success."
MEMS: On The Verge
With the ability to support any combination of electrical and micromechanical devices on a single chip, MEMS opens an endless horizon of tantalizing possibilities for future designs. But to fully mine the staggering potential of MEMS tomorrow, design tools and methodologies must be devised today that support that vision. With the combined effort of DARPA and the EDA industry focusing on MEMS, significant effort has already made in that direction. Such progress ensures that the tremendous promise that MEMS holds for next-generation IC-based applications will, in fact, become a reality.
Another essential requirement is a continuous design flow from front- to back-end. By seamlessly combining the electromechanical and IC design environments, the kit will eliminate the confusion and inefficiency of going back and forth between the two. As a result, a MEMS design can flow seamlessly from structural model to layout, with multidisciplinary teams including mechanical, electrical, component, and system teams, working together in the same environment and directly sharing results. And, if there are interfaces to specific foundries, a fast track from design to market is almost a sure bet. The Mentor-MEMSCAP kits, for example, will support several foundries including MCNC; Bosch, Reutlingen, Germany; Austria Mikro Systems, Graz, Austria; and SensoNor, Horton, Norway.
"One of the biggest limitations to continued growth of the MEMS user base is the fact that with existing design systems you have to be a rectangle-pusher." At least that's how Karen W. Markus, director of the MEMS technology Applications Center at MCNC sees it. She continues, "The limited tools that are available to help a MEMS designer require that person to have at least a basic idea of CAD layout and the process being used."
Markus contends that a vast, untapped market exists in systems designers, people who think in terms of black boxes that capture all the behavioral and intrinsic information. "The engineering design kits currently under development by MCNC and its partners will provide these black boxes and the supporting design framework to the systems design community, opening the door for their participation in MEMS foundry activities. This has the potential to spark an additional level of interest and product introduction beyond the current frenzy," says Markus.
To move MEMS up the design chain, support for design IP is necessary. This is especially important for designers new to MEMS. Intellectual property provides more general-purpose ready-made pieces to help jump-start the design. As a result, instead of laboriously creating a device by pushing polygons, the designer can use MEMS IP to significantly streamline the design effort. This makes it easier for those new to this type of design to efficiently produce a viable MEMS application. The designer can still zero in on crucial areas at the device level, and work with field solvers. However, once the designer is satisfied, lower-level information can be automatically translated into an analog HDL, and integrated with other IP at the system level.
Dr. Beernaert of the European Commission emphasizes the pressing need for reusability, "Currently, every new MEMS application is a new process, a new device design that starts from scratch. This is very inefficient, very expensive, and is asking for mistakes to be made. Having interfaces in the form of IP to specific foundries, and qualified, debugged MEMS building blocks will be critical for faster development times, and for increasing the chances of immediate success."
MEMS: On The Verge
With the ability to support any combination of electrical and micromechanical devices on a single chip, MEMS opens an endless horizon of tantalizing possibilities for future designs. But to fully mine the staggering potential of MEMS tomorrow, design tools and methodologies must be devised today that support that vision. With the combined effort of DARPA and the EDA industry focusing on MEMS, significant effort has already made in that direction. Such progress ensures that the tremendous promise that MEMS holds for next-generation IC-based applications will, in fact, become a reality.