piezoD is a tool for modeling the performance and optimizing the design of piezoresistive and piezoelectric sensors and actuators. It is written in object oriented Matlab, and is designed to make it fast and easy to design high performance microdevices. While originally developed for the design of cantilever beams, the code is modular and can be applied to a variety of problems.

• p-type and n-type single crystal silicon piezoresistive cantilevers
• epitaxial, diffused and ion implanted piezoresistors
• aluminum nitride (AlN) and lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric cantilevers
• polycrystalline silicon and thin metal film cantilevers

• noise: 1/f (Hooge), Johnson, amplifier, thermomechanical
• mechanics: Bernoulli beam bending with accurate stiffness and resonant frequency for multilayer, segmented structures
• concentration and temperature dependent effects: thermal conductivity, carrier density and mobility, piezoresistance factor
• fluid damping: resonant frequency and quality factor
• temperature profile: finite difference, lumped, and linearized circuit models for self-heating

• simple bounds: all design parameters, e.g. cantilever length, bias voltage
• general nonlinear constraints: power dissipation, temperature, resonant frequency, resistance, spring constant, etc

• integrated noise (force, displacement, surface stress)
• noise power spectral density (force, displacement, surface stress, acceleration, etc)

The main PiezoD website is written in jemdoc (see PiezoD/Docs/) and can be found here: microsystems.stanford.edu/piezod.

Model details and example usage are provided there.

PiezoD is currently implemented in object oriented Matlab and requires Matlab R2008a or later and the optimization toolbox.

Python and Go implementations are currently in the works as both a coding exercise and to provide a complete OSS stack.

If you use PiezoD in your research, we only ask that you cite the first paper that we wrote on the subject:

Joseph C. Doll, Sung-Jin Park and Beth L. Pruitt
Design optimization of piezoresistive cantilevers for force sensing in air and water
Journal of Applied Physics 106.6 (2009): 064310-064310.

piezoD is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

piezoD is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.