Los Gatos, CA., and Grenoble, France - May 26, 2005, SoftMEMS is pleased to announce the release of a new version of its flagship product MEMS Pro. This is a very special event for SoftMEMS, as it is the first new release since the company acquired a worldwide and exclusive license to develop and market MEMS Pro.

“Since micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) based products usually include a combination of MEMS and interface circuits, we have from the very beginning created tools enabling MEMS, packaging and electronics co-design. The industry is saying we were right,” said Dr. Mary Ann Maher, SoftMEMS CEO. “Our early positioning of combining MEMS and IC design tools allowed us to benefit from the work invested into an efficient design for manufacturing approach by the IC industry and to concentrate on adding MEMS-design specific features. Our tools have always been about improving MEMS designer's productivity in creating manufacturable MEMS products.”

As a result, MEMS Pro is a flexible, powerful, easy-to-use CAD tool suite for the design and analysis of MEMS including their associated electronics and packaging. It offers an integrated solution for the design process that shortens development time while providing designer's reliable analysis before manufacture. SoftMEMS tools are integrated within state of the art IC and CAM design environments. Functionalities include mixed MEMS/IC schematic capture and simulation, full custom mask layout capabilities, MEMS specific layout productivity tools and design verification, 3D model generation and visualization, behavioral model creation and links to 3D analysis packages.

Josep Montanyà i Silvestre, CTO at Baolab Microsystems, Terrassa, Spain, says ‘MEMS Pro has been a support for our developments from the very beginning when we started the proof of concept, and it has accelerated our designs allowing us to use a standard IC layout design tool with its DRC capability together with a 3D visualization and a quick connection to standard FEM programs like ANSYS and HFSS.” He added: “MEMS Pro as a tool supporting both IC and MEMS development was a solution natural and easy to implement for us.'

Special features have been integrated into MEMS Pro 5.1 for better interoperability with finite element solvers offering more output formats for 3D geometries, better material properties handling and improved automatic meshing capabilities. The link between 2D layout and 3D modeling has also been improved by automatic translation of curvilinear shapes used in MEMS from polygonized GDSII masks. Finally, MEMS Pro v5.1 has enhanced libraries for system level models including expanded support for mixed electronic/optical devices and a methodology for Design for Manufacturing is illustrated.

MEMS PRO V5.1 is available now. Please contact sales@softmems.com for further questions or on how to receive your free trial version.

About SoftMEMS:

SoftMEMS has been created in the summer of 2004 by Dr. Mary Ann Maher, previously CTO and head of the Design Automation Business Unit at MEMSCAP. SoftMEMS acquired the exclusive and worldwide license from MEMSCAP to develop and market all its CAD design tools for MEMS. Since their introduction in 1998, popular products MEMS Pro and MEMS Xplorer have been widely used in the MEMS industry by Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, government laboratories and top research and educational institutions. As a key investment into the future, SoftMEMS has developed a strong academic program.

Contact:

Ridha HAMZA

SOFTMEMS, Grenoble, France, Phone: +33 4 76 45 21 66

E-mail: ridha.hamza@softmems.com

Mary Ann Maher

SOFTMEMS, Los Gatos, CA, USA, Phone: +1 (408) 426 4301

E-mail: maryann@softmems.com