Simulation of MESFET Device by Streamline-diffusion Finite Element Methods

A streamline-diffusion finite element method, specially designed for semiconductor device models, is used to simulate silicon MESFET devices in two space dimensions. The full hydrodynamic model, a simplified hydrodynamic model and drift-diffusion model are considered. The method, which reduces to the well-known Scharfetter-Gummel discretization for the conventional drift-diffusion model in one space dimension, proves to be a robust numerical tool. It performs well also when the solution has layers of rapid variation across junctions which are not aligned with mesh lines. Comparisons are made for the different models. A qualitative discrepancy between the solutions of the hydrodynamic model and the drift diffusion model is found. A small difference, however, is observed between the full and simplified hydrodynamic models. 1 Introduction With the development of VLSI technology, the more reliable semiconductor device models beyond the conventional drift-diffusion model (DD) are needed. T..