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Product category: Design and Development Software
News Release from: Algor | Subject: Algor FEA
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 16 July 2002

Analysis predicts MEMS performance

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SiWave is using finite element analysis to predict the performance of a novel optical switch manufactured using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology.

SiWave, an Arcadia, California supplier of optical switching components and subsystems, is developing an optical switch using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology SiWave chose Algor FEA-based simulation software in the development of this product to predict the performance and durability of this tiny device

"Algor is a fast, intuitive simulation package that has the analysis capabilities I need, including static stress, mechanical event simulation (MES), linear dynamics, heat transfer and electrostatics", said Rob Calvet, Optomechanical Engineer at SiWave.

Light-based fibre-optic technology is more capable of carrying greater amounts of data than traditional electron-based telecommunication technology.

This is because photons do not interact with each other, which enables them to carry higher frequency signals that encode more information per second - in other words, more bandwidth.

Using dense wave-division multiplexing (DWDM) technology, many frequencies or colours of li