Novel approach to numerical prototyping in microelectronics and microsystems

Numerical prototyping methods based on numerical simulations and optimization are nowadays a key factor to successful cost effective and timely design for improved products and processes. The typical prototyping procedure would be based on a sequence of numerical simulations/tests done in an iterative form in order to achieve usually sub-optimal designs. These tests are usually selected according to the knowledge and experience of an engineer or a defined standard with little or no help from effective methodologies. In contrast, this paper presents the elaborated novel approach to numerical prototyping based on smart and sequential algorithm. The major advantage of the presented approach is that it can improve the quality of the response model at a fraction of the number of experiments compared to the classical DOE/RSM methodologies. Details of the methodology are presented along with a selected example concerning microelectronic packaging.