TCAD Software Solutions are key to develop new semiconductor processes and devices, as part of the R&D cycles

Benefits of TCAD

Reduce Development Costs

• Reduce the time and manufacturing cycles spent to develop semiconductor technologies
• ITRS roadmaps indicates that TCAD simulation can reduce the costs during development cycles by ~30%

Visualize Internal Physical Processes

• Using simulation, you can see ‘inside” the device. Experimental measurements tell you what happens, but not why it happens. TCAD can tell you why. For example:
  • Reverse voltage characterization on a power device tells you what happens at high reverse biases. The  device experiences reverse breakdown at a specific voltage
  • A TCAD simulation can also replicate the reverse current-voltage curve, but also can also tell you why the device is experiencing breakdown. In TCAD the engineer can “see inside” the device and identify what region within the semiconductor first succumbs to breakdown due to high impact ionization generation

Design Technology Co-Optimization (DTCO)

• TCAD is part of a DTCO flow which improves designs across multiple domains – Layout, Process, Device, SPICE, and RC extraction
•  A full TCAD to SPICE flow, in an integrated DTCO environment, delivers clear actionable results for circuit design optimization

Virtual Experimentation

• Experiment with cause and effect: Change the device design (layout), technology (semiconductor process steps) or device operation condition (biasing, etc) and understand and improve device performance
• Experiment with theories in TCAD: control the impact of various physics in the device via model settings and coefficients. If theory as applied to simulation matches the measured result, you may have found the root cause and gained physical understanding of device performance

Communicate Device Complexities Clearly

• Semiconductor device design, and processing of semiconductors is a complex task. Engineers must work collaboratively to solve problems, explain issues and opportunities to a variety of colleagues with varied technical expertise
• Utilizing TCAD can clearly communicate device and process changes; communicating potential performance improvements with clarity while minimizing manufacturing cycle times