Summary: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NUMERICAL MODELLING: ELECTRONIC NETWORKS, DEVICES AND FIELDS
Int. J. Numer. Model. 2011; 24:194­206
Published online 15 June 2010 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/jnm.770
A conformal mapping-based approach for fast two-dimensional
FEM electrostatic analysis of MEMS devices
Prasad S. Sumant1,Ã,y
, Andreas C. Cangellaris2
and Narayana R. Aluru1
1
Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, 1206 W. Green St., Urbana, IL 61801, U.S.A.
2
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois, 1406 W. Green St., Urbana, IL 61801, U.S.A.
SUMMARY
In this paper, a methodology is proposed for expediting the coupled electro-mechanical two-dimensional
finite element modeling of electrostatically actuated MEMS. The proposed methodology eliminates the
need for repeated finite element meshing and subsequent electrostatic modeling of the device during
mechanical deformation. We achieve this by mapping the deformed electrostatic domain to the reference
undeformed domain `conformally'. A `conformal' map preserves the form of the Laplace equation and the
boundary conditions; thus the electrostatic problem is solved only once in the undeformed electrostatic
domain. The conformal map itself is generated through the solution of the same Laplace equation on the

Source: Aluru, Narayana R. - Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Collections: Engineering; Materials Science