1.4 The VISTA TCAD Environment

In this work, the VISTA [13] framework is used as an integrated environment for TCAD analysis. By providing uniform interfaces for the exchange of simulation data and for controlling the execution of the tools, VISTA can automatically simulate complete VLSI fabrication processes [14]. The data format is shared among process and device simulators and when external tools are used, suitable data format wrappers are provided. It has a graphical editor where devices geometries can be edited or displayed [15]. Constraint optimization, DOE and RSM techniques are also available in VISTA [16].