A COMPUTATIONALLY EFFICIENT UNIFIED APPROACH TO THE NUMERICAL-ANALYSIS OF THE SENSITIVITY AND NOISE OF SEMICONDUCTOR-DEVICES

This paper presents a new computationally efficient unified approach t o the numerical simulation of sensitivity and noise in majority-carrie r semiconductor devices, based on the extension to device simulation o f the adjoint method, well known in the sensitivity and noise analysis of electrical networks. Sensitivity and device noise analysis based o n physical models are shown to have a common background, since they am ount to evaluating the small-signal device response to an impressed, d istributed current source. This problem is addressed by means of a Gre en's function technique akin to Shockley's impedance field method. To enable the efficient numerical evaluation of the Green's function with in the framework of a discretized physical model, interreciprocity con cepts, based on the introduction of an adjoint device, are exploited. Examples of implementation are discussed, relevant to the sensitivity and noise analysis of GaAs MESFET's.