Semiconductor Device and Process Simulation: EEE533

This course was developed by Professor Dragica Vasileska fromArizonaStateUniversity, Tempe, AZ. Professor Vasileska received the B.S.E.E. (Diploma) and the M.S.E.E. Degree form the University Cyril and Methodius (Skopje, Republic of Macedonia) in 1985 and 1992, respectively, and a Ph.D. Degree from Arizona State University in 1995. From 1995 until 1997 she held a Faculty Research Associate position within the Center of Solid State Electronics Research at ArizonaStateUniversity. In the fall of 1997 she joined the faculty of Electrical Engineering at ArizonaStateUniversity. Her research interests include semiconductor device physics and semiconductor device modeling, with strong emphasis on quantum transport and Monte Carlo particle-based simulations. She is a senior member of IEEE and APS. Dr. Vasileska has published more than 140 journal publications, over 100 conference proceedings refereed papers, dozen of book chapters, 3 books and has given numerous invited talks. She is also a recipient of the 1998 NSF CAREER Award. She is also listed in Who’s Who.

Prerequisites

  • Knowledge of semiconductor device theory.
  • Basic knowledge of linear algebra.
  • Basic knowledge of some programming language or MATLAB.

Text(s):

  1. Dragica Vasileska and Stephen M. Goodnick. Computational Electronics. [Morgan and Claypool, 2006, USA].[yes]
  2. K. Tomizawa, Numerical Simulation of Submicron Semiconductor Devices. [The Artech House Materials Science Library]. [no, but advisable to have].
  3. S. Selberherr, Simulation of Semiconductor Devices and Processes. [Springer-Verlag, Wien New York]. [no]

Additional Readings:

  1. D. Vasileska and S. M. Goodnick. “Computational Electronics”, Materials Science and Engineering, Reports: A Review: Journal,R38, no. 5, pp. 181-236 (2002). [advisable to have]

Software and Multimedia:

Microsoft Word, Excel, MATLAB, Fortran, C, C++ compilers (one compiler or MATLAB is a must).

Course Description

This course offers complete introduction to semiclassical modeling of semiconductor devices. This is very important to today’s student education in the solid-state area as nowadays computer-aided design has become an affordable and, in fact, necessary tool for designing contemporary semiconductor devices. With emphasis on a variety of semiclassical numerical methods, this course provides basic concepts and design tools for analyzing discrete one/two/three-dimensional devices such as Schottky diodes, MESFETs, MOSFETs, BJTs, and HBTs.

Course Outline by Topical Areas:

  • Computational Electronics: Transistor era development. Why computational electronics?
  • Semiconductor Fundamentals: Semiconductor bandstructure, Simplified bandstructure models, Carrier dynamics, Semiconductor effective mass, Introduction to EPM, Derivation of EPM, Implementation of EPM, Semiclassical transport theory, Boltzmann transport equation, Scattering processes, Relaxation time approximation.
  • Numerical Analysis Review: Direct solution methods of partial differential equations, Iterative solution methods of partial differential equations.
  • Drift-Diffusion Model: Physical limitations, Bipolar semiconductor equations, Normalization and scaling, Gummel’s iteration method, Newton’s method, GR processes, Time-dependent simulations, Scharfetter-Gummel discretization, Examples of Application of DD model.
  • Mobility modeling: Mobility models used in commercial simulators.
  • Hydrodynamic model: Extended DD Model, Straton’s approach, Balance equation model, Displaced Maxwellian approximation, Characteristic rates calculation, Simplification to DD.
  • Commercial Simulators: Introduction to Silvaco ATLAS (device) and ATHENA (process) simulation framework. Simulator syntax, Numerical method choice, Types of solutions, Some language syntax.
  • Modeling of MOSFET devices
  • Modeling of BJT Transistors
  • Modeling of SOI Devices
  • Modeling of HEMTs with BLAZE
  • Modeling of EEPROM
  • Self-heating effects in SOI devices
  • Quantum Effects: Gate Leakage and quantum-mechanical space quantization, SCHRED simulation software
  • Process Simulation: Diffusion, ion implantation, etching, etc.

Course Objectives

  • To enable students to understand the principles of semiconductor transport as applied to understanding device operation from physical standpoint.
  • To enable students to perform analysis of device structures and behaviors using commercial modeling software.
  • To enable students to develop their own simulation software for modeling arbitrary device structures.
  • To enable students to compare their simulation results with available experimental data and improve the physics implemented.
  • To enable the students to predict the operation of novel device structures and, thus, help speed-up the design to production process.

Point Distribution on Assignments

Activity / Points
1 / Survey for scaling issues in semiconductors (1 Week) / 5
2 / Empirical Pseudopotential MethodImplementation (2 Weeks) / 10
3 / Discretization of the Poisson equation across heterointerface (1 Week) / 5
4 / Analytical linearization of the Poisson equation (1 Week) / 5
5 / 1D drift-diffusion model for modeling PN diodes (2 Weeks) / 15
6 / Silvaco simulation of MOSFETs (1 Week) / 8
7 / Silvaco simulation of SOI Devices (1 Week) / 8
8 / Silvaco simulation of Lattice heating and Energy balance model (1 Week) / 8
9 / Silvaco simulation of HEMT (1 Week) / 8
10 / Space quantization using SCHRED (1 Week) / 5
11 / Process simulation problem(1 Week) / 8
12 / Final Project: Silvaco simulation of arbitrary device structure of choice and physical phenomena of interest to Industry / 15
Total Points / 100