Coventor showcases MEMS design advances at IEEE MEMS 2012

Coventor had its latest MEMS design solutions on display at the recent IEEE MEMS 2012 conference in Paris. The annual gathering of MEMS experts attracted more than 700 attendees from around the world, who came to see and hear about important developments in MEMS design and implementation. Of particular interest among attendees were design, simulation and analysis tools, electro-mechanical integration techniques, assembly and packaging approaches, and fabrication technologies.

Coventor was well-positioned with demonstrations of its newest products, including the just released CoventorWare 2012, which brings even greater levels of productivity and efficiency to the MEMS modeling, design and analysis process. Also of interest was the MEMS+ solution, which targets developers looking to integrate MEMS with traditional IC and system level design methodologies, using tight links to popular design environments from Cadence and The MathWorks.

There was considerable interest and a wide range of papers presented on a variety of innovative MEMS-enabled applications areas at the event, including mechanical, thermal, and magnetic sensors and actuators, opto-mechanical and fluidic micro devices and microsystems, as well as MEMS for data storage, biomedical engineering, wireless communication, power supply and energy harvesting.

“These types of events are great for us to get a finger directly on the pulse of the industry and see what people are working on in the MEMS space so we can better provide solutions that meet the market requirements,” said Mike Jamiolkowski, Coventor’s CEO. “We met many of our top customers here and it’s an ideal way to exchange ideas.

A highlight of MEMS 2012 was a special VIP lunch that Coventor hosted. Guests we are able to meet the Coventor executive team, and hear first hand from them about the strategic directions Coventor is taking to enhance its MEMS design platform. Among the key focus areas for the Coventor R&D team are:

1. Enabling MEMS+IC simulations of multi-sensor systems (e.g. IMUs)
2. Verifying complex sensor designs with FEM/BEM field solvers
3. Providing a platform for a complete MEMS+IC verification flow
4. Predicting MEMS process issues before actual fabrication

An informal survey of attendees also revealed the most pressing issues facing MEMS designers. The highest priority, by far, is more accurate MEMS+ simulations. After that is faster simulation as well as the ability to handle packaging effects and parasitics. We value this type of feedback and are confident it maps well to the product development initiatives we are pushing forward with in the coming year.