First I want to thank my advisor Prof. Siegfried Selberherr for giving me the opportunity to join his research group and to work in the vast and amazing field of microelectronics. He took care for excellent working conditions, a calm working environment, and last but not least encouraged me to attend several high class scientific conferences.
I am also indepted to Viktor Sverdlov for his scientific guidance, his sometimes hard, but appreciated, comments on my work, and his ability in fixing problems. He introduced me to the k.p method and the physics of strained semiconductors.
Prof. Erasmus Langer, the head of the Institute for Microelectronics, eased long working days with his sarcastic comments and took care of all the bureaucracy.
I also thank Prof. Johann Summhammer for serving on my examination committee.
Dr. Clemens Heitzinger introduced me to the commencing field of biological applications in microelectronics and the mathematicians' way of thinking. Prof. Hans Kosina is always a reliable source regarding various physical questions. Prof. Tibor Grasser is often hard to catch, but always open for questions and a really smart guy.
I was blessed with easygoing and genial colleagues. Martin Vasicek and I met first at our physics studies and soon became friends. He suggested to join him at the Institute of Microelectronics and it is always fun to chat with him. Hajdin Ceric introduced me at the institute and tought me the finite element method, which I like pretty much. Otmar Ertl was initially one of my room mates, has always an open ear for questions, and shares with me the love for open source and technical gadgets. Roberto Orio de Lacerda introduced me to the Brasillian culture and showed always a positive and relaxed attitude. Goran Milovanovic is also one of my friends from my studies and I enjoy discussing with him various themes. Paul-Jürgen Wagner proofed as an incredible solver of LATEX problems and always had the right package/command up his sleeve. Franz Schanovsky was really helpful regarding to various questions and problems related to SGFramework. Johann Cervenka is the guy to ask, if you have a software problem and you need a quick fix and do not know how to tackle it. Philipp Hehenberger reignited my love for soya products and supported my addiction with tofu on a regular basis. Oliver Triebel helped as one of the MINIMOS-NT experts at the institute. Oskar Baumgartner shares with me the vice of coffee addiction and is an interesting discussion partner. Wofgang Gös impressed me with his ironman degree, something I will probably never be capable of. Karl Rupp served as the mathematican at hand and suffered under my spontaneous meetings and questions. Stanislav Tyaginov surprised me with his sensitive hobby of breeding bulb flowers. I did not know how colorful they can be.
During my work at the institute I had the pleasure to collaborate on different levels with many other colleagues I have a high regard for: Markus Bina, Lado Filipovic, Abel Garcia-Barrientos, René Heinzl, Alexander Makarov, Mihail Nedjalkov, Neophytos Neophytou, Vassil Palankovski, Mahdi Pourfath, Philipp Schwaha, Zlatan Stanojevic, Ivan Starkov, Franz Stimpfl, Stanislav Vitanov, and Josef Weinbub as well as those I apologize not to mention here.
I want to thank the proofreaders of this thesis, who greatly improved this work by their numerous suggestions.
Manfred Katterbauer, Ewald and Christoph Haslinger, and Renate Winkler took care of the administrative work and ensured the continuity at our institute. Special thank goes to all former members of the Institute for Microelectronics for leaving a precious heritage for all coming generations and to all other colleagues for their assistance and the stimulating working atmosphere they created.
This work was supported in part by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, Project P19997-N14.
Last but not least, I want to thank my family. My parents made possible all of my studies by their continuous support. They have tought me how to work hard and bring out the best of myself.
My wife, Cornelia, detached me from the computer from time to time in order to enjoy our family and free my mind from work. She also supported me in many other ways and provided me with love and understanding for endless working days. Only she knows how much I owe her. And of course there are my daughters Lea and Yana who make my world complete.