The development of high-precision, long-term stable pressure sensors requires a continuous simulation process that takes into account the coupling of mechanical, thermal, and electrical effects to calculate the sensor characteristic curve. Current tools have so far only provided individual sub-steps and often have no interfaces between them, making manual data transfer and conversion between systems necessary. The completed KTB project successfully established an approach to close this gap.
Results from existing FEM simulators such as Silvaco Athena and ANSYS were combined with proprietary modules to enable seamless calculation of the sensor characteristic curve. To this end, semiconductor physics technology simulation and FEM simulation of mechanical properties were combined using proprietary models. By taking thermal effects into account and subsequently calibrating against experimental data, an automated tool was created that significantly shortens the development process and allows for customer-specific applications. This integrated simulation and design tool offers significant savings potential, especially for small and medium-sized companies that offer high-precision process measurement technology, as time-consuming and costly manufacturing and measurement runs can be reduced to a minimum during the development phase.
The research and development work in the “Complex Tools for Component Simulation” (KTB) project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Funding code: 49VF220014
