Combining process and device simulation to compute the fabrication and
operation of semiconductor devices allows to study the influence of
process parameters on the device characteristics.
In a typical industrial environment, circuit designers
ask for a certain device behavior that has to be met - within a
certain range - by the devices leaving the fabrication unit in order
for the integrated circuits to work properly and meet their respective
specifications
.
By adjusting the process flow sequence and process
parameters,
process design aims at ensuring that a large fraction of all devices
fabricated fall into the acceptable range.
Due to the extremely high costs of real-silicon experiments and the
notorious lack of time and man-power in a highly competitive industry,
the necessary parameter adjustments
are frequently done in the
virtual world of simulation, with only a very small number of actual
experimental wafer runs granted to the process designers.