Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD) is the utilization of computational methods, integrated into software tools, for the design and analysis of semiconductor devices and their fabrication processes. Usually a single device, or small group of devices is analyzed using TCAD tools.
Here the device, or, during the early stages of manufacturing a subregion of a wafer, is modeled through a binary representation of its properties, e.g., its geometry, its material, dopant concentrations, and temperature distribution in two or three dimensions. The process flow during manufacturing of the real device is represented by a series of numerical simulation tools; the process simulators. Finally the semiconductor transport equations are solved in the generated transistor by a device simulator which computes the electrical behavior.
Using TCAD, predictions about technological questions will be made before the actual devices have to be manufactured. This reduces the cost and time during process development.