First of all I want to thank my primary supervisor Josef Weinbub, who is also the head of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for High Performance TCAD. Without his continuous support and belief in my skills I would not have been able to finish the journey I started in 2016. His ideas, remarks, and particularly his critical comments always inspired and improved my own work.
My sincere thanks go also to my secondary supervisor Siegfried Selberherr for providing an excellent and fruitful working environment, where I was able to freely follow my ideas. I am also very grateful for his many supportive remarks on my manuscripts enabling to sharpen my eye for details.
I also want to thank Andreas Hössinger from Silvaco Europe Ltd. who provided not only me but the whole team of the Christian Doppler Laboratory with useful tips, excellent research ideas, and valuable discussions.
Furthermore, I want to thank the team of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for High Performance TCAD, Paul Manstetten, Vito Šimonka, Georgios Diamantopoulos, Luiz Felipe Aguinsky, Michael Quell, and Alexander Toifl as well as everyone from the Institute for Microelectronics, particularly Xaver Klemenschits and Diana Pop. I will never forget the daily coffee discussions or the now traditional kebab Tuesdays. Without the constant support of all these people I would not be where I am today.
All my scientific success would not have been possible in the first place without the endless support and belief of my family. My parents enabled me to pursue my path in science and supported me through all these years of studying and becoming what I am today. Thank you.
Finally, I want to express my deepest gratitude and love to my wife Tini who always supported and motivated me throughout this whole journey. She always put a smile on my face when I was frustrated and saw me through the hard times occurring occasionally in a PhD student’s life. Thanks to you and our two extraordinarily funny, cheerful, and cool twin boys, Theo and Emil, I know that work, science, and research is only a rather small fraction of what makes life meaningful and precious. I owe the three of you the lion’s share of my success!