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5.2 Future Directions

One possible direction is to continue expanding the material database of MINIMOS-NT with multinary III-V materials of relevance, such as III-Nitrides and III-Antimonides. Including group II-VI semiconductors is also feasible. As for group IV materials, SiC or SiGeC need still to be included in MINIMOS-NT, and a more rigorous approach to SiGe has to be applied.

New models for physical properties with respect to material composition and strain conditions due to lattice mismatch have to be developed. The models must be valid for the whole composition range in the temperature range between 70 K and 500 K. Anisotropic effective carrier masses, density of states, and carrier mobilities should be considered. A built-in feature for automatic estimation of the strain condition based on empirical relation for the growth-condition dependent critical layer thickness (see e.g. [127,128]) can also be developed. The materials used in two consecutive layers can be checked if they cannot be grown without a lattice mismatch. It is imaginable to apply the algorithm for estimation of the strain condition of arbitrary relevant material structures. The convergence behavior must be optimized and the complexity of the models should be cross-checked with the computational effort in order to ensure the effectiveness of the new models.

Possible simulation applications in the future could be the simulation of leakage currents at low bias in GaAs-based HBTs, breakdown simulation in III-V devices, thermal investigations not only in the device, but also in the interconnects. The accuracy of the device simulation for all devices has to be verified not only against DC-, but also against RF-measurements. Simulations will aid reliability investigations also in the future, as they offer practical solutions.


next up previous contents
Next: Bibliography Up: 5. Conclusion and Outlook Previous: 5.1 Conclusion
Vassil Palankovski
2001-02-28