Modeling Failure and Reliability in New-Generation Devices.

摘要

The physics of failure of semiconductor devices, and of the means of simulating it, was studied in order to establish cost-effective methods to design two-and three-terminal semiconductor devices used in amplification, mixing, detection, and oscillation applications. An energy transport simulation code suitable for multi-layered two or three-terminal devices of Si, GaAs, and any other characterizable materials was written and its calculation speed continually enhanced using both physical approximation and numerical sophistication. Results were verified for submicronscale Si MOSFETs with hot-electron reliability problems, and GaAs MESFETs with high-power microwave impingement problems. An effort to theoretically describe electron transport in hexagonal SiC and related crystals were also begun.