MEMS Module Overview

The MEMS Module is a collection of application modes and models for COMSOL Multiphysics with which you can model various MEMS devices and applications. It includes application modes for modeling of electrostatics, structural mechanics, piezoelectricity, film damping, and microfluidics. The MEMS Module Model Library shows how to use these application modes to model actuators, sensors, and microfluidic devices. The comprehensive documentation outlines the theoretical basis of MEMS-specific phenomena and the application modes in the module, and it also contains step-by-step instructions for creating the models.

The MEMS Module seamlessly connects to COMSOL Multiphysics and the other add-on modules in the COMSOL Multiphysics product line. Therefore, Heat Transfer by Conduction, Convection and Conduction, and other application modes in COMSOL Multiphysics that might prove useful for a particular application are available for MEMS modeling. You can also view and modify the models in terms of the underlying PDEs. The software thus offers a unique transparency because the model equations are always visible, and you have complete freedom in the definition of phenomena that are not predefined in the module.

In MEMS, the operation of devices are often affected by several physical phenomena that are coupled by some mechanism. Traditionally, these couplings are described pairwise using, for example, electro-structural, fluid-structural, and thermo-mechanical couplings, but there are also couplings across three types of physics such as thermal-electric-structural interaction. Although COMSOL Multiphysics does not pose any limitations on the number or type of such couplings, these couplings are important building blocks in complex multiphysics models containing any number of coupled physical phenomena.

The following table summarizes the most important MEMS couplings and some common devices you can model using the MEMS Module. It also outlines the structure of the MEMS Module. The first column of the table lists phenomena, couplings, and devices that are often associated with the word electromechanical in the narrow and literal meaning of MEMS. The devices in this category are usually various kinds of actuators and sensors. The microfluidic devices, although using some of the same manufacturing and miniaturizing techniques, form a totally different application area. The “Fluid-Structure Interaction” column lists various techniques and phenomena that are useful for both electromechanical and microfluidic applications, where movement and deformation of solids are of concern. The last column, “Microfluidics,” lists transport phenomena that are key issues in, for example, lab-on-a-chip type devices.

This table, however, shows only the tip of the iceberg—our view of the most important applications where you can use the MEMS Module. In your hands, the multiphysics combinations and applications of the MEMS Module are unlimited.