Design and optimisation of microelectromechanical systems: a review of the state-of-the-art

This article provides an inclusive review on the field of design and optimisation (DO) of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) since its emergence, about two decades ago. Fundamentals and applications of MEMS are presented herein, followed by a comprehensive review on the conventional tools and practices developed for MEMS DO throughout. The limitations of these techniques are identified, and the necessity for automated DO methods for MEMS technology is therefore justified and evaluated. A recent trend in DO of microsystems is inspired by the natural evolution and the survival of the fittest hypothesises. Motivated by its achievements in other engineering DO problems, evolutionary computation has also been adopted for the DO of MEMS, at different levels. A thorough review of this infant area of research is also presented in this article and highlights of the main challenges facing this field are discussed. Prior to a major research in the area, this article provides an update of the state-of-the-art on MEMS technology with a general interest in the automated DO techniques, particularly, the evolutionary methods.