1.4 Research Goals

The significant progress of SiC material development achieved in recent years opened the possibility to utilize unique features of SiC-based devices. However, advanced and SiC-specific modeling techniques have to be developed in order to optimize device properties and device fabrication steps. The goal of this work is, therefore, to introduce novel modeling approaches and extend simulation capabilities of thermal oxidation and dopant activation for SiC-based devices. In particular:

One of the biggest challenges of this work is the lack of available experimental data, which does not provide the whole picture needed for investigations. In addition, the physics behind oxidation and activation mechanisms is not fully understood and impossible to predict without further investigations. Several phenomena are purely SiC-specific, therefore, the chemical mechanisms, physical processes, and computational models cannot be directly inherited from other semiconductor materials.

1.4.1 Research Setting

The research presented in this work was conducted within the scope of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for High Performance Technology Computer-Aided Design. The Christian Doppler Association funds cooperations between companies and research institutions pursuing application-orientated basic research. In this case, the cooperation was established between the Institute for Microelectronics at the TU Wien and Silvaco Inc., a company developing and providing electronic device automation and TCAD software tools.