CAD of microsystems-a challenge for systems engineering

Designing, verifying and resting microsystems and microsystem components will not be feasible without the intensive use of design methodologies and supporting computer aided design tools. Requirements engineering at the beginning of a top down design flow results in formal specifications for the desired system and component behavior and a list of design constraints. These are the basis for documentation as well as for modeling, system simulation, parameterized component design and hardware/software codesign. Finite element analysis and simulations on various levels of abstraction are necessary to characterize parameterized functions (e.g. sensors and actuators built on different microtechnologies and materials) and generate macromodels in a bottom up design flow to verify each design step for component integration, system integration, packaging and interconnects, especially dealing with parasitics and cross sensitivities