ANY SIGNIFICANT milestone in one's life is made possible by the contributions
of many others along the way. The successful completion of this research is no
different for me. I am extremely appreciative and thankful to my supervisor
Prof. SIEGFRIED SELBERHERR, dean, Faculty of
Electrical Engineering and Information Technology. He opened the door for me
and turned my long-awaited dream into reality by giving me an extraordinary
opportunity to join his strong and well known research group in the field of
microelectronics. He provided me with the guidance, motivation, and instruction
to press on through the many frustrating times common in doctoral research. As
a mentor, his desire and ability to support me in whatever I needed were
crucial to finish this task.
I would like to thank Prof. EMMERICH
BERTAGNOLLI, head, Institute of Solid State Electronics
for his willingness to serve on my dissertation examination committee. A
special thanks goes to Prof. ERASMUS LANGER,
head, Institute for Microelectronics for providing a homelike best possible
stimulating working environment where I enjoyed day and night hard work
throughout my research. I am thankful to Prof. HANS
KOSINA for his excellent lecture on TCAD and our many
discussions on semiconductor device physics and technology. I also wish to
thank Prof. TIBOR GRASSER, leader of the
general-purpose device simulator MINIMOS-NT development
team for kindly answering my questions regarding the implementation of the
physical models into the simulator.
I am very grateful to ANDREAS GEHRING who has
always been there to support and encourage me all along the way from the very
first day this research work kicked off. He always had an ear to listen to my
frustrations and my joys. I am always impressed by his quick and masterful
ability to fix problems and his encouraging discussions on considerable device
simulation challenges. I must also admit that this dissertation wouldn't have
been in such a form without his excellent proofreading comments. I am very
thankful to JONG-MUN
PARK who shared with me his numerous practical
experience on semiconductor device technology, design, and simulation. He
educated me in a relatively short time the very complex, but crucial device
design procedures and considerations for numerical simulation investigations,
without which I wouldn't have succeed.
My deepest appreciations are due to all my colleagues in the semiconductor
device research group of the Institute for Microelectronics. I cannot thank
them enough for their support, encouragement, and understanding. I am indebted
to SERGEY
SMIRNOV for his an inspired hard work and theoretical
physics knowledge which was the reference to many of my questions related to
semiconductor crystal structures, ENZO
UNGERSBÖCK for our many discussions on solid state
physics and a wonderful time during our conference trip, STEPHAN
WAGNER for his kind help on the transient and AC-small
signal simulation, ROBERT KLIMA for explaining in
an easy way the structure of the MINIMOS-NT input
deck. VASSIL PLANKOVSKI inspired me by his own
record breaking long work hours and device simulation skills, ROBERT
ENTNER rescued a couple of times my lost data using his
advanced backup and recovery system, and MAHDI
POURFATH, although being relatively new to our
institute, took me by surprise with his knowledge in the theory of ballistic
transport in semiconductor nanostructures.
I like to acknowledge as well my colleagues in the semiconductor process
research group due to their importance in my work. It is not practical to list
all of them, nevertheless I wish to express my heart-felt thanks to all of
them. Furthermore, my special thanks goes to EWALD
HASLINGER and MANFRED
KATTERBAUER who are the backbone of our institute. They
are always on alert to give a quick support to many of administrative and
technical inquires. I am thankful to MILLION
AJEBE who entered so many of literature references into
my bibliography database and arranged them in alphabetical order.
I would like to extend a special thanks to Prof. MARGIT
GFÖHLER for her inspiration and advice over the
years. The AUSTRIAN ACADEMIC EXCHANGE
SERVICE (ÖAD) deserves my sincere gratitude for
awarding me a scholarship to pursue my M.Sc. study and introducing me to the
Austrian education system. I also thank the CHRISTIAN
DOPPLER LABORATORY FOR TCAD IN
MICROELECTRONICS, Austria and the SEMICONDUCTOR
RESEARCH CORPORATION (SRC), USA for
supporting my Ph.D. research work. ANDREAS
ANIBASS from Siemens AG Austria and GERNOT
REISINGER from Infineon Technologies AG were not only my
bosses, but also great mentors sharing their practical experience during my
work at these two exemplary electrical and electronics engineering firms.
There are many that from behind the scenes have encouraged and supported my
study, and I wish to thank them. I have special gratitude to extend to my
mother MEHERET EWNETU, who instilled within me,
by her own example, the importance of hard work, discipline, and strong faith
in GOD. Of course, I am also indebted to the many who supported
me with their prayers; and I thank GOD, ALMIGHTY
and his holy mother KIDANE
MEHERET for answering our prayers.
T. Ayalew: SiC Semiconductor Devices Technology, Modeling, and Simulation
