Efficient three-dimensional parallel simulations of PHEMTs

Abstract

An efficient 3D semiconductor device simulator is presented for a memory distributed multiprocessor environment using the drift–diffusion (D–D) approach for carrier transport. The current continuity equation and the Poisson equation, required to be solved iteratively in the D–D approach, are discretized using a finite element method (FEM) on an unstructured tetrahedral mesh. Parallel algorithms are employed to speed up the solution. The simulator has been applied to study a pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (PHEMT). We have carried out a careful calibration against experimental I–V characteristics of the 120 nm PHEMT achieving an excellent agreement. A simplification of the device buffer, which effectively reduces the mesh size, is investigated in order to speed up the simulations. The 3D device FEM simulator has achieved almost a linear parallel scalability for up to eight processors. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.