Simulation is gaining importance in the development process of new semiconductor devices. The reason for this trend is that the continuous downscaling of the feature size makes development which is based only on experiments and theoretical analysis increasingly difficult and expensive. At the same time the abilities of device simulators are being enhanced and more powerful computational resources become available at decreasing costs.
Especially the field of application of generic device simulators is continuously being extended and comprises MOS, bipolar, and heterostructure devices made from Si, SiGe, and III-V compound semiconductors. This is very important as it enables for development engineers to analyze new device concepts and to work with familiar and proofed tools.
In this thesis the use of the generic device simulator MINIMOS-NT for the simulation of semiconductor structures from a wide range of applications is demonstrated.
MINIMOS-NT is used to investigate a new method for pn-junction delineation and doping characterization. New models are implemented to account for the physical effects used by this method and measurement are simulated.
As the feature size is decreased material interfaces gain influence on the device characteristic and proper modeling of the interfaces is getting more important for device simulation. A method for treatment of interface models which reduces the effects of bias conditions on convergence is presented and applied to the simulation of a HEMT.
Further examples include the two-dimensional transient simulation of a surface-channel charge-coupled device and the optimization of the on-resistance of a VDMOS with the help of process and device simulation. The doping concentration and the location of additional vertical n- and p-doped areas are determined to reduce the on-resistance without degrading the maximum source-drain voltage.
In an other example the Gummel-Poon compact model parameters for a BJT are extracted from the results of device simulations by automatically comparing them to the results of circuit simulation with the help of an optimizer.
Mixed-mode simulation of distributed and lumped devices is getting more important because it enables the extraction of characteristic device parameters from devices which are part of a test circuit. This gives more realistic results than the simulation of only the investigated device and can be compared to measurements more easily. The mixed-mode simulation of a Colpitts oscillator performed by MINIMOS-NT is compared to a circuit simulation performed by SPICE using the extracted compact model parameters.