CONSISTENT TREATMENT OF CARRIER EMISSION AND CAPTURE KINETICS IN ELECTROTHERMAL AND ENERGY-TRANSPORT MODELS

The traditional approach to semiconductor device modelling relies on b alance equations for particle and energy now, which include various so urce and sink terms accounting for all the involved generation and los s processes governing the reaction kinetics of electrons, holes and im purities during the device operation. Usually the so-called quasi-stat ic approximation is employed to model the reaction kinetics. In this w ork, this approximation is critically re-examined, showing that in the case of high trap concentrations, compensated doping distributions, h ot carriers, low temperature operating conditions or wide-gap devices, the commonly used balance equations must be supplemented by additiona l terms in order to correctly include the emission and capture kinetic s of the free carriers.