I would like to thank Prof. Siegfried Selberherr for the opportunity to pursue my scientific goals, when it was only a distant ambition. I also appreciate his sympathy and support along the years, especially in the improvement of the quality of my work and to push me to take risks.
I am very grateful to Dr. Hajdin Ceric for his guidance, support, and kindness since the very beginning of my studies. I am thankful for his patience in reviewing my publications and for teaching me how to create a neat work.
I thank Dr. Roberto Lacerda de Orio and Dr. Lado Filipovic for their friendship, and all the support regarding immigration paperwork and personal matters. My first months in Vienna would have been much harder without their help.
I would also like to thank Dr. Filipovic for the thoughtful revision, suggestions, and comments to improve the quality of this work.
Additional thanks for all my friends and colleagues at the Institute for Microelectronics, especially for Dr. Josef Weinbub, Dr. Markus Bina, and Dr. Karl Rupp for creating such a nice and friendly environment in our office.
I am grateful to all my colleagues in ams AG for cheering me up during the writing of this work. Especially to Sara Carniello, for supporting me along this entire work and for pointing me out the path through mechanical simulations, and Andrea Kraxner for improving considerably the German version of the abstract of this dissertation.
To my parents, I shall remain grateful my entire life for showing me that the greatest gift a child can receive is a good education.
Lastly, to my beloved wife Emanuella, I am deeply grateful for her tenderness, patience, and love throughout the years. I appreciate sincerely all her efforts in the unfortunate task of being my first editor and reviewer. In addition, I could not let to acknowledge her ability to cheer up my spirit by preparing the greatest food in the darkest hours of my studies. Finally, I shall be eternally in debt with her for teaching me that, if one will embark in an adventure, one should never go alone.