Advances in the Spherical Harmonic-Boltzmann-Wigner approach to device simulation

Recent advances in the Spherical Harmonic Boltzmann method of device modeli ng are presented. A new surface scattering model and improved numerical int erpolation schemes have been developed. The method is shown to be capable o f calibrating an entire deep submicron process to provide I-V characteristi cs and substrate current self-consistently. Substrate currents agree with e xperiment over a complete process without any fitting parameters. Applicati ons to a 50 nm MOSFET predict well-behaved device operation. The method req uires approximately ten minutes to self-consistently calculate a MOSFET bia s point and provide the device distribution function. The spherical:harmoni c method has been extended to account for quantum mechanical effects by: ap plying it to the Wigner equation. We treat the Wigner equation as a quantum correction to the Boltzmann equation thereby:making the spherical harmonic approach a natural method of solution. (C) 2000 Academic Press.