editor's blog
Subscribe Now

Hi Bryon, Your readers should be

Hi Bryon, Your readers should be aware that multiple customers are using Mentor Calibre in the physical verification and extraction portions of their MEMS designs. To that point, there is a white paper authored by Mentor and Freescale on how Freescale uses Calibre in their MEMS designs(http://go.mentor.com/3yxal).

When it comes to DRC, there are some unique aspects of MEMS, not the least of which is the need to accurately handle curves. This is quite different than verification of ICs, which use rectilinear shapes, or so-called Manhattan topology, and can really throw DRC tools into a tizzy, resulting in slow runtimes and potentially thousands of false violations.

Calibre nmDRC helps mitigate this problem via Calibre eqDRC, a capability that allows designers to create an equation based check that allows checking of curved designs. On the extraction side, MEMS designers like the Calibre xACT field solver extraction technology because it works directly on the physics of the design using Maxwell’s equations—that is, designers can not only get very accurate results, but they are able to get started doing extraction analysis much faster, as set up is much faster vs developing a look-up table solution.

Leave a Reply

featured blogs
Apr 24, 2026
A thought experiment in curiosity, confusion, and cosmic consequences....

featured paper

Quickly and accurately identify inter-domain leakage issues in IC designs

Sponsored by Siemens Digital Industries Software

Power domain leakage is a major IC reliability issue, often missed by traditional tools. This white paper describes challenges of identifying leakage, types of false results, and presents Siemens EDA’s Insight Analyzer. The tool proactively finds true leakage paths, filters out false positives, and helps circuit designers quickly fix risks—enabling more robust, reliable chip designs. With detailed, context-aware analysis, designers save time and improve silicon quality.

Click to read more

featured chalk talk

Analog Output, Isolated Current, & Voltage Sensing Using Isolation Amplifiers
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Vishay
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Simon Goodwin from Vishay and Amelia Dalton chat about analog output, and isolated current and voltage sensing using isolation amplifiers. Simon and Amelia also explore the fundamental principles of current and voltage sensing and the variety of voltage and current sensing solutions offered by Vishay that can get your next design up and running in no time.
Apr 27, 2026
2,602 views