MOSFET hot-electron gate current calculation by combining energy transport method with Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

The authors describe a novel technique, which combines the attributes of the energy transport and Monte Carlo (ET-MC) methods, for determining MOSFET gate current that arises from electron heating in the device. This method is based upon a non-Maxwellian hot-electron distribution function found from Monte Carlo simulation, and utilizes a physically calculated average electron energy. Calculated values for gate current of a sample submicron MOSFET device show reasonably good agreement with experiment without the need for any fitting parameters. The method allows for excellent resolution of the high-energy tail of the distribution function. Furthermore, the ET-MC model requires less CPU time than standard MC methods, and is therefore appropriate for use in the computer-aided design of semiconductor devices, especially after establishing a database of distribution functions. >