Entries by Graham Bell

TCAD Investigation of Total Ionizing Dose (TID) Effects on Gallium Nitride HEMTs

Gallium Nitride (GaN) based devices such as the High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) find wide applications in RF and Power domain due to its excellent intrinsic properties. Accordingly, such devices have also been explored for their radiation hardness which is inherent due to the strong bonding nature of the binary and ternary nitrides. Radiation-induced instabilities including the radiation-induced stress and changes to the material properties leading to the departure of expected results in practical applications. Due to the limited availability of the test structures and facilities required to analyze the reliability of said devices under ionizing radiations, the cost and time of production gets affected. In this regard, to cut down on the cost and time for production, device engineers require accurate and reliable tools that can accurately predict the robustness of their proposed device architectures in foreign environments. Silvaco’s Victory TCAD software is one such tool that can aid the device engineers in this aspect. In this work, we demonstrate the Total Ionizing Dose (TID) Effects on GaN HEMTs using the Radiation Effects Module (REM) available with Silvaco’s Victory TCAD suite.

Obtaining Spectral Sweeps from 3D Plasmonic Structures

In the simulation standard article, “Plasmonic Light Trapping Transforming Thin-Film Photovoltaics” from 2015, the finite difference time domain (FDTD) algorithm was used in 2D to propagate the light in thin film photovoltaic structures with and without metallic nanoparticles to simulate its plasmonic effect. The solid modeling module of Victory Mesh offers the capability to model such structures in 3D.

Worldwide Success for Virtual Silvaco UseRs Global Events (SURGE)

In late October and early November 2020, Silvaco held its fourth annual series of UseRs Global Events (SURGE). Because of the current COVID conditions, the events were held virtually online. With attendees across all locations, there was a wide variety of presenters from semiconductor IC design and manufacturing companies, and industry partners at the conferences. Our guests actively shared industry trends and discussed innovative applications of semiconductor technology from atoms to systems.

Silvaco Presents at 13th International MOS-AK Virtual Workshop, Dec. 10 – 11

The 13th International MOS-AK Workshop will be hosted virtually on December 10 and 11, 2020, and Silvaco R&D will be presenting. The MOS-AK Workshop aims to strengthen a network and discussion forum among experts in the field, enhance open information exchange related to compact/SPICE modeling and Verilog-A standardization, bring academic and industrial experts in the compact modeling field together, as well as obtain feedback from technology developers, circuit designers, and CAD/EDA tool developers and vendors.

Customer Interview: Why I Rely on SmartSpice

Martin Mallinson is an experienced analog circuit designer with multiple patents. Over his 40-year career, his audio designs have been used in millions of smartphones.  Martin spoke with Graham Bell about why SmartSpice is different from other analog simulators and how he relies on its interactivity, speed, and precision for his analog design work.

Silvaco’s Babak Taheri Speaking @ MEMS World Summit Shanghai, Nov. 17

MEMS World Summit is the world’s foremost annual meeting and business platform for engaging with political, business, financial, research and industry leaders of the MEMS manufacturing industry. At the Shanghai event on Nov. 17, 2020, CEO Babak Taheri will present on “Challenges and and Opportunities for Global Semiconductor Businesses”.  His talk will cover megatrends in the semiconductor business, drivers for new kinds of semiconductor simulation, the post-COVID economy, and why we can remain optimistic about the future.

Silvaco at Upcoming Solid-State Conferences – ESSDERC 2020 and SISPAD 2020

Silvaco technologists and research partners will be participating in the ESSDERC/ESSCIRC 2020 joint conference for solid-state devices and circuits.  Tutorial #8, Ab-initio simulations supporting new materials & process developments, chaired by Denis Rideau (STMicroelectronics) and Philippe Blaise (Silvaco), includes a presentation by Dr. Tillmann Kubis of Purdue University. Dr. Kubis is working with Silvaco in the area of atomistic simulation.  He will present on  Atomistic Green’s functions: the beauty of self-energies.

Replay of 2020 ESD Alliance CEO Outlook Panel

The ESD Alliance CEO Outlook was held on June 17, 2020. This year’s informative event, featuring six prominent industry CEOs, was conducted as a virtual event, generously hosted by Arm.
The panelists discussed the impact of COVID-19 on our industry, the rising cost of chip design, and many other topics.