Simulation of Gas Flows in Micro Devices by Solving the Boltzmann Kinetic Equation

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Numerical modeling of gas flows in micro devices has practical value due to the high application opportunities of such devices to the relevant industries. Gas behavior is accurately described by the Boltzmann equation of the integral-differential type. Due to its complexity, various simplified approaches are usually applied. However, with the increased processing power of modern computing systems it is now possible to use the recently developed projection method. This method implies direct calculation of the collision integral. The new approach maintains conservation laws of mass, momentum and energy and does not disturb Maxwellian distribution function. These properties are extremely important for the applied devices modeling practices. Simulation activities based on the usage of the projection method generated a sufficient amount of point solutions to understand that it accurately describes both slow and fast gas flows. Consequently, an integrated tool Kesolver has been created to simulate gas behavior in various applied devices. The results of simulations are in good agreement with an experiment. Achieved by computer modeling, distribution of gas macro parameters in the thermo molecular pump has been compared with experimental data of Martin Knudsen.

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Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 2, Nanotechnology 2012: Electronics, Devices, Fabrication, MEMS, Fluidics and Computational (Volume 2)
Published: June 18, 2012
Pages: 617 - 620
Industry sectors: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing | Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topic: Informatics, Modeling & Simulation
ISBN: 978-1-4665-6275-2