SIMULATION OF MESFET DEVICE BY STREAMLINE-DIFFUSION FINITE-ELEMENT METHODS

Uses a streamline-diffusion finite element method, specially designed for semiconductor device models, to simulate silicon MESFET devices in two space dimensions. Considers the full hydrodynamic model, a simpli fied hydrodynamic model and drift-diffusion model. The method, which r educes to the well-known Scharfetter-Gummel discretization for the con ventional drift-diffusion model in one space dimension, proves to be a robust numerical tool. It performs well also when the solution has la yers of rapid variation across junctions which are not aligned with me sh lines. Makes comparisons for the different models. Finds a qualitat ive discrepancy between the solutions of the hydrodynamic model and th e drift diffusion model. Observes a small difference, however, between the full and simplified hydrodynamic models.