Greetings,

I have seen a few messages in the past about using Ansys for FEM
simulations for actuators.  Does anyone have experience with Algor? (The
sales guy is willing to give me dynamics, statics, heat transfer and
electrostatics combined graduate package with unlimited nodes and
elements for $3,000 USD). Is this a good deal?  How much did people pay
for a comparable Ansys package?

        Also, what issues did people come accross in importing the designs from
Lasi6.0 or any other design layout tool?

        How easy is it to use Matlab's Simulink to simulate the extracted
system blocks?

        The bottom line question is can one use the above packages and do a
decent MEMS design and simulation and keep the total price under $7k or
get a fully integrated package like Tanner's which costs more than $20K.

Thanks in advance.


Alex Freeman
MEMS Research Engineer
Zyvex