A Recipe for Successful MEMS Simulation
A useful set of guidelines for analog simulation can be found in [67]. From this we can construct a set
of guidelines for MEMS simulation.
1. Be sure you have access to the necessary domain-specific knowledge for all energy domains of
interest before undertaking the project.
2. Never use a simulator unless you know the range of answers beforehand.
3. Never simulate more of the system than is necessary.
4. Always use the simplest model that will do the job.
5. Use the simulator exactly as you would do the experiment.
6. Use a specified procedure for exploring the design space. In most cases this means that you should
change only one parameter at a time.
7. Understand the simulator you are using and all the options it makes available.
8. Use the correct multipliers for all quantities.
9. Use common sense.
10. Compare your results with experiments and make them available to the MEMS community.
11. Be sensitive to the possibility of microlevel phenomena, which may make your results invalid.
The last point is particularly important. Many phenomena, which can be ignored at larger feature sizes,
will need to be taken into account at the micro level. For example, at the micro scale, fluid flow can behave
in dramatically different ways [44]. Many other effects of scaling feature sizes down to the microlevel,
including an analysis of why horizontal cantilever beam actuators are “better” than vertical cantilever beam
actuators, are discussed in Chapter 9 of [68]. Chapters 4 and 5 of [68] also provide important information
for low-level modeling and simulation.

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