Front-end process simulation

If the 1980s were the decade in which two-dimensional (2-D) device simulati on became widely used for device design, the 1990s saw the widespread adopt ion of 2-D process simulation. Physics-based models of such processes as io n channeling, transient enhanced diffusion and surface dopant loss, coupled with much faster workstations and large memories, have put predictive capa bility on process engineer's desktops. Sophisticated modeling strategies co mbined with focused experiments have led to the improved physical understan ding of dopant implantation, diffusion and activation. A hierarchy of tools , from ab-initio electronic structure calculations, through Monte Carlo dif fusion simulators, to the continuum models which are the mainstay of proces s design, have been applied. The implications of some of these newly discov ered phenomena are analyzed in a number of applications in advanced technol ogies. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.