First and foremost I want to thank my advisor Professor Dr. Siegfried Selberherr for his support and guidance through the challenging research work for this dissertation. He has an impressive knowledge of semiconductor device and process technology as well as strong contacts to the industry, which ensures that projects at the Institute for Microelectronics are focused on leading-edge problems in modern and future integrated circuits. I would also like to point out that his financial support has allowed me to participate in several international conferences in the EU, USA, Mexico, Japan, and Singapore.
Dr. Andreas Hössinger, the former head of the process simulation group, introduced me to the Monte Carlo calculation of ion implantation distributions. He has comprehensive knowledge of particle physics, modeling and simulation, and he is a real C++ expert. We had a lot of discussions which were helpful for the ongoing of this work. I am also indebted to Dr. Suresh Uppal from the University of Newcastle for the long-lasting cooperation. He provided me with numerous SIMS profiles in SiGe and germanium. I have to thank Dr. Johann Cervenka who solved Linux-related problems of my workstation in a very fast way. He and Dr. Stefan Wagner assisted me in porting MCIMPL-II from Linux to the IBM-AIX platform.
I would like to thank Dr. Helmut Puchner for inviting me to work in his R&D group at the design center of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. in San Jose, USA. He introduced me not only to the processing of modern SRAM devices, but also to the American way of life. The support of Dr. Andreas Gehring and Dr. Hajdin Ceric allowed a fast start of the exciting NBTI project.
I thank Professor Dr. Erich Gornik who agreed to participate in my examining committee on a very short notice. Furthermore, I am indebted to Professor Dr. Erasmus Langer, the head of the Institute for Microelectronics, who was a strict but very helpful boss. Finally, I want to thank all those people from the Institute who created a nice working atmosphere.
Last but not least, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my parents for their continuous support for all my studies.