Based on the structural description of a semiconductor device which was produced by a process model, device simulation tools are modeling the electrical properties of these devices. Device simulators act as substitutes for probing hardware as it is available at fabrication sites. They close the gap between the model of a fabrication process and the electrical characteristics of its resulting devices in which a process design engineer is finally interested.
In conjunction with the wafer model produced by process simulation,
these device simulation tools form a fully functional device model
exhibiting the same electrical characteristics as the corresponding
real device on the wafer. In this sense, process simulation together
with device simulation provide a full functional model of an IC
fabrication technology as depicted in Figure 2.4.
