Numerical simulation and characterization of trapping noise in InGaP–GaAs heterojunctions devices at high injection

Abstract

Commercially available simulators present considerable advantages in performing accurate DC, AC and transient simulations of semiconductor devices, including many fundamental and parasitic effects which are not generally taken into account in house-made simulators.Nevertheless, while the TCAD simulators of the public domain we have tested give accurate results for the simulation of diffusion noise, none of the tested simulators perform trap-assisted GR noise accurately.In order to overcome the aforementioned problem we propose a robust solution to accurately simulate GR noise due to traps.It is based on numerical processing of the output data of one of the simulators available in the public-domain, namely SENTAURUS (from Synopsys).We have linked together, through a dedicated Data Access Component (DAC), the deterministic output data available from SENTAURUS and a powerful, customizable post-processing tool developed on the mathematical SCILAB software package. Thus, robust simulations of GR noise in semiconductor devices can be performed by using GR Langevin sources associated to the scalar Green functions responses of the device. Our method takes advantage of the accuracy of the deterministic simulations of electronic devices obtained with SENTAURUS.A Comparison between 2-D simulations and measurements of low frequency noise on InGaP–GaAs heterojunctions, at low as well as high injection levels, demonstrates the validity of the proposed simulation tool.