DevEdit

User’s Manual

Silvaco, Inc.
4701 Patrick Henry Drive, Bldg. 2 September 10, 2013
Santa Clara, CA 95054
Phone: (408) 567-1000
Web: [Link]
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2 DevEdit User’s Manual

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3 DevEdit User’s Manual

 Table of Contents

Chapter 1 
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1 What is DevEdit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.1.1 The Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.1.2 The Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.1.3 When to Use DevEdit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.1.4 When Not to Use DevEdit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.1.5 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2 Base Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2.1 Layout and Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2.2 Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.2.3 Main Panel Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.2.4 Control Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3 FILE CONTROL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.1 Using DevEdit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.2 Loading a SILVACO Standard Structure File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.3 Writing to a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.4 Difference - SILVACO Standard vs. Devedit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3.5 Loading a Command File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3.6 Default Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chapter 2 
Tutorial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.1 Goal And Purpose Of Creating A New Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 EXAMPLE 1 - CREATE A NEW STRUCTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.1 Work Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2.2 Defining Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2.3 Defining Impurities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2.4 Mesh Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.2.5 Saving The File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.3 EXAMPLE 2 - REMESHING AN EXISTING STRUCTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.1 Loading The Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.2 Obtain Existing Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.3 Structure Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.4 Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.3.5 Mesh Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.3.6 Saving The File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.4 Advanced Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.4.1 3D Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.4.2 Combining Two ATHENA Structures into a Single Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.4.3 Stretch and Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.4.4 Circular Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.4.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

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Chapter 3 
Editing Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.1 STRUCTURE EDITING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1.1 Zooming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1.2 Panning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1.3 Editing Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1.4 Selecting The Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.2 EDITING REGIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.2.1 Adding a Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.2.2 Selecting Region Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.3 DRAWING REGIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.3.1 Setting Base Impurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.3.2 Deleting Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.3.3 Modify Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.3.4 Deleting Boundary Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.4 DOPING DEFINITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.4.1 Defining an Impurity Source Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.4.2 Defining an Impurity Source Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.4.3 Doping Source Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.4.4 Deleting Source Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.4.5 3D Doping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.5 MESHBUILD MESHING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.5.1 Boundary Conditioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.5.2 Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.5.3 Mesh Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.5.4 Adaptive Meshing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.5.5 Refinement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.5.6 Manually Refining The Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.5.7 Manually Relaxing A Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.5.8 Tensor Product Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.5.9 Work Area Resizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.5.10 Defining 3D Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.6 CREATING A NEW MESH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.6.1 Setting The Mesh Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.6.2 Base Mesh Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.6.3 Refining On Impurities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.6.4 Mesh Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.6.5 Final Meshing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.6.6 Saving the SILVACO Standard Structure File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.7 IMPURITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.7.1 Viewing Impurities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.7.2 Impurity Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.7.3 Impurities Loaded From A Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.7.4 Add Impurity Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.7.5 Defining An Impurity Source Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.7.6 Defining Impurity Roll-off Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.8 ROLL-OFF FUNCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.8.1 Analytic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.8.2 Analytic Functions (Dist) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

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3.8.3 Doping Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

3.8.4 Join Function 2D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3.8.5 Join Function 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.8.6 Deleting Impurities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.8.7 Editing Impurities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.8.8 Combining Impurity Rolloffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Chapter 4 
Statements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.1.1 Cards And Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.2 [Link]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.3 [Link] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.4 [Link] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.5 CUT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.6 DEPOSIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.7 FLIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.8 IMPURITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.9 IMPURITY REFINE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.10 INITIALIZE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
4.11 JOIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
4.12 MESH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.13 MIRROR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
4.14 MOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
4.15 PROFILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
4.16 QUIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
4.17 REFINE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
4.18 REGION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4.19 [Link] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
4.20 SOURCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
4.21 STRETCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
4.22 STRUCTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
4.23 SUBSTRATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.24 [Link] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
4.25 [Link] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
4.26 GENERIC PARAMETER - BOOLEAN TYPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
4.27 GENERIC PARAMETER - COLOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.28 GENERIC PARAMETER - IMPURITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
4.28.1 Possible Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
4.29 GENERIC PARAMETER - MATERIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4.29.1 Possible Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4.30 GENERIC PARAMETER - PATTERN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

6 DevEdit User’s Manual

 Chapter 1
Introduction
What is DevEdit Introduction

1.1 What is DevEdit

DEVEDIT is a device structure editor. It can be used to generate a new mesh on an existing
structure and can be used to create or modify a device. These devices can then be used by 2D
2D and 3D simulators. DEVEDIT can be used as a simulator under DECKBUILD or through a
Graphical User Interface (GUI).

Note: The GUI is not available on Windows.

1.1.1 The Problem

A limitation of device simulators prior to DEVEDIT was inadequate or poor structure meshes.
A mesh containing too many obtuse triangles or an insufficient number of triangles (too
coarse a grid) may provide an inaccurate result or no result at all. A mesh containing too
many triangles (too fine a grid) can result in excessive simulator processing time. Since the
time most simulators use grows geometrically with the number of triangles (or grid points), it
is critical to keep the number of triangles down to a reasonable number. Using simulators,
such as SSUPREM4, to create non-uniform meshes tend to be very time consuming and
require a great deal of effort.

1.1.2 The Solution

DEVEDIT resolves these problems by allowing structures to be created or read into DEVEDIT
in the form of SILVACO Standard Structure Files. The mesh contained in the file can then be
replaced using the MESHBUILD algorithm. You can refine the mesh by setting parameters that
describe critical areas or by simply pointing to the areas, which require refinement.
In the process of creating a structure, you can define a device by drawing it on the screen.
DEVEDIT can also perform analytic implants using built-in equations or cut lines from other
simulators. Constraints are then placed on the mesh to describe the critical areas of the device.

1.1.3 When to Use DevEdit

Use DEVEDIT when you want to perform the following operations:
• Defining a device interactively on the screen for subsequent device or process
simulations.
• Remeshing a device structure between process simulation and device test simulations,
when the process simulator does not create a good grid for the device simulator.
• Remeshing a device structure during a process or device simulation, when the mesh is no
longer adequate for the next simulation step.

1.1.4 When Not to Use DevEdit

You should not use DEVEDIT to perform the following operations:
• Replacing numerical process simulations where accuracy is required.
• Meshing 1D device structures.

8 DevEdit User’s Manual

What is DevEdit Introduction

1.1.5 Getting Started

You can run DEVEDIT from the UNIX prompt or from DECKBUILD. There are two file types
that DEVEDIT can read: SILVACO standard structure file format (common to all SILVACO
simulators) and command format (a list of DEVEDIT commands which create a structure). The
structure file format contains information, such as triangles, impurity values, borders. The
command format in normally used when starting a new device mesh. It contains the list of
instructions that describe the current state of mesh development. Although the DEVEDIT
command file is usually smaller than the structure file, it contains information, such as the
state of DEVEDIT, impurity equations, and meshing modes.
Startup
You can start DEVEDIT one of two modes: 2D and 3D.
For 2D mode, type:
devedit
For 3D mode, type:
devedit3d
To start DEVEDIT in GUI mode, use one of the following commands for a UNIX prompt.

Command Description

devedit & This starts DEVEDIT with no active device.

devedit [Link] & This starts DEVEDIT with the SILVACO Standard structure
[Link] loaded.

devedit [Link] & This starts DEVEDIT with the command file [Link] loaded.
devedit3d & This starts DEVEDIT in 3D mode with no active device.
devedit3d [Link] & This starts DEVEDIT with the 3D command file [Link]
loaded. DEVEDIT does not currently support loading 3D struc-
ture files.

Note: Make sure you set your DISPLAY environmental variable to an active X window screen.

9 DevEdit User’s Manual

Base Window Introduction

1.2 Base Window

1.2.1 Layout and Functionality
The DEVEDIT base window display (Figure 1-1) is made up of several sections:
• Control Buttons - These menu buttons are used to control all DEVEDIT actions.
• Main Canvas - This area is used to show a graphical representation of the device.
• Main Panel - Displays a list of the regions in the current device and allows a region to be
selected for region specific commands. The list contains all regions by name, number,
legend, and (for color terminals) color.
• User Added Impurities List - Displays a list of the user-added impurities as they are
selected from the Control panel Impurities menu, or read from a command file
(impurities read from SILVACO standard structure files do not appear in this list). This
list also allows impurities to be selected for impurity specific commands.

Figure 1-1 Base Window Display

10 DevEdit User’s Manual

Base Window Introduction

1.2.2 Control Panel

Commands are performed by selecting the appropriate option from one of the following
menus or buttons displayed on the control panel.
• Files - Contains a menu of load/save file operations.
• Regions - Contains a menu of various material region control options.
• Impurities - Contains various options for control of impurities.
• Mesh - Contains a menu of various mesh control options.
• Help - Provides interactive help information.

1.2.3 Main Panel Controls

Controls located between the Regions panel and User Added Impurities panel control how
regions and impurities are displayed. They perform the following functions:
• Highlight - Permits highlighting selected material region in red.
• Show Mesh - If a mesh exists, it can be shown or not shown to speed up display.
• Black & White - Allows making a black and white picture on a color screen.
• Border - Shows a black border around regions. It can be turned off so regions are not
separated by a border.
• Border Points - Shows key points used to create the mesh.
• Grid - Shows intersect points between scales on main panel.
• Fill Regions - How regions should be filled in.
• Off - Regions are not filled.
• Pattern - A fill pattern is used to fill region. Ordinarily used only in Black & White
mode.
• Solid - The region’s color is used to fill region. This option is not shown on Black &
White terminals.
• Show Net Doping - Permits selection of how doping is displayed (normally, coarse or off
is selected).
• Net Doping Legend - Permits positioning of a legend in one of eight positions on the
main panel.
• Impurity Junctions - Shows where the junctions are (Only shown when a mesh exists).
• Scale - Permits display (or not) of scale on each border of the main panel.
• Number of Points - Displays number of points in current structure.
• Number of Triangles - Displays number of triangles in current structure.
• Zoom to Region - Permits selection of a region on the Regions list as full view on main
panel.
• Full View - Selects full view of work area (entire device).

1.2.4 Control Windows

During the process of DEVEDIT operation, a number of auxiliary panes can stack up obscuring
the Main panel. To regain access to the Main panel, sequentially remove the auxiliary panes
by choosing the Cancel, Done, or Apply button (as appropriate) for each panel.

11 DevEdit User’s Manual

FILE CONTROL Introduction

1.3 FILE CONTROL

1.3.1 Using DevEdit
Using DEVEDIT is largely intuitive. As a starting point, a screen appears displaying a space
where you can edit a device. Menus and options appear on the right hand side of the screen.
They are selected from the Main Menu button options along the top of the main screen. Each
action may change the control panel on the right side of the main screen. Select the required
menu options from the series of buttons and menus, and press Apply or Done on the control
panel when complete.

1.3.2 Loading a SILVACO Standard Structure File

You can load a SILVACO Standard Structure file at any time into DEVEDIT. A SILVACO
Standard Structure File may have been created by any 2D simulator. A SILVACO standard
structure can be loaded from the time DEVEDIT was invoked (see Invoking DEVEDIT from the
UNIX prompt in Section 1.1.5 “Getting Started”) or by using the File menu. Under the File
menu button on the left side of the DEVEDIT screen, a number of menu options allow the
basic SILVACO standard structure file I/O control of DEVEDIT. To load a file, select the Load
menu option. A popup window appears indicating a Directory name, a filename and a Filter
type. Two types of file can be loaded into DEVEDIT. One, a SILVACO Standard Structure File
that contains a description of the entire structure to be loaded. Two, a Command file that
contains the complete list of instructions developed as operations performed to create a
structure. If you are starting from a 2D simulator only, you will not have a Command file to
load. If starting from a point previously run in DEVEDIT, a Command file may exist.
Command files can be distinguished by the filename [Link].
To load a SILVACO Standard Structure File, select FileLoad.... In the new window, set the
filter to *.str unless you do not end all your SILVACO Standard Structure Files [Link].
Set the current directory and file name if needed. Currently, the mesh in the SILVACO
Standard Structure File is ignored. Therefore, you must put on a new mesh before saving the
structure file.

1.3.3 Writing to a File

DEVEDIT can save both structures and Command files. Saving a structure means the object
displayed on the screen is saved to a SILVACO Standard Structure File (*.str). This is done
only after a mesh has been generated. Saving a command file means that the complete
sequence of events required to arrive at the current structure are saved while in DEVEDIT. The
command file is a complete object oriented history of events required to create the current
structure. To save a file, type in or select a file name. To save as a set of commands, click on
the Save Commands button. To save a structure file, click on the Save Structure button.
You can save over the previously loaded/saved file by selecting the Save option instead of the
Save as... option.
In 3D mode, there is also a Save Structure (Tetrahedra) button. In this case, the Save
Structure button saves prisms appropriate for ATLAS. The Save Structure (Tetrahedra)
button saves tetrahedrons appropriate for VICTORYDEVICE.

12 DevEdit User’s Manual

FILE CONTROL Introduction

There is also a special file option called Save generic mesh commands.... This is like saving
a command deck but only commands related to generic mesh commands are saved. The idea
behind this is for you to load a structure, set some meshing options like refine on doping and
minimum mesh size and then mesh the structure. When this is done to your liking, the mesh
commands can then be saved using Save generic mesh commands.... Then, you can load a
different structure and apply the same mesh options by using Source (command sequence)
on the previously saved file.

1.3.4 Difference - SILVACO Standard vs. Devedit

A SILVACO Standard Structure File and a DEVEDIT file (Command) differ. A SILVACO
Standard Structure File constrains some information about each region, a mesh describing the
device, and a list of impurities at each point. This file type must be used to pass the structure
to a simulator. A DEVEDIT file contains the DEVEDIT cards (instructions) needed to create a
device, the analytic impurities functions, mesh creation cards, and DEVEDIT mode settings. It
does not currently support impurities (including doping and results) read in from a structure
file. Therefore if a structure file is read in, a structure file must be written out. Otherwise, all
the impurities not added during the current editing session are lost. Subsequent releases will
rectify this problem.
When starting a new device mesh, you should save it in both card deck and structure file
formats. When saved in the command format, all original information is retained, such as
formulas, region colors, mesh constraints. Structure files are necessary for use by ATLAS.
When a file is saved in the structure file format, only the resulting values of calculations are
retained, pre-emptying the possibility of future modification of the original DEVEDIT
commands.
It is especially important to save both a Command File and a Structure file when creating 3D
devices. The loading of impurities and Z planes is not supported when loading 3D structure
files. Therefore, this information will be lost if only the structure file is saved. Therefore, you
need to save a structure file for ATLAS/VICTORY use and Command file for reloading into
DEVEDIT.

1.3.5 Loading a Command File

Pull down the File menu and select Load.... In the new window, set the filter to LOADING A
COMMAND FILE - *.de]*.de unless you do not end all your DEVEDIT Command files
[Link]. Set the current directory and file name if needed.

1.3.6 Default Files

In addition to SILVACO Standard Structure Files and DEVEDIT Command files, there are also
DEVEDIT Default Option files. These files are used by DEVEDIT to reset DEVEDIT options
when loading a SILVACO Standard Structure File or when starting DEVEDIT with no file. If
you are loading a DEVEDIT command, most options will return to the active settings when
that command was last saved.

13 DevEdit User’s Manual

Chapter 2
Tutorial
Goal And Purpose Of Creating A New Mesh Tutorial

2.1 Goal And Purpose Of Creating A New Mesh

This tutorial discusses aspects of mesh creation in DEVEDIT. It begins by discussing the goal
of an efficient mesh for device simulation. This tutorial uses the Graphical User Interface
(GUI), which is currently not available on Windows.
There are two examples. The first example (Section 2.2 “EXAMPLE 1 - CREATE A NEW
STRUCTURE”) demonstrates how to create a structure. The second example (Section 2.3
“EXAMPLE 2 - REMESHING AN EXISTING STRUCTURE”) illustrates how to create a
mesh in an existing structure. These two examples illustrate the basic usage of DEVEDIT. Not
all features, however, are discussed in this tutorial. We recommends that you read both
examples. Finally, in this tutorial, some advanced features (Section 2.4 “Advanced Features”)
are mentioned. The remainder of the DEVEDIT manual should be used as a reference.
Specifying a good mesh is a crucial issue in device simulation. There is a trade-off between
the requirements of accuracy and numerical efficiency. Accuracy requires a fine mesh that
resolves the structure in solutions. Numerical efficiency is greater when fewer points are
used. The critical areas to resolve are difficult to generalize, since they depend on the
technology, transport phenomena, and bias conditions. A generalization is that critical areas
tend to coincide with reverse-biased metallurgical junctions. Typical areas that require fine
mesh includes:
• high electric fields at the drain/channel junction in MOSFETs.
• the transverse electric field beneath the MOSFET gate.
• recombination effects around the emitter/base junction in BJTs.
• areas of high impact ionization.
• around heterojunctions.
The cpu time required to obtain a solution is typically in proportion to
Na
where N is the number of nodes and a varies from 2 to 3, depending on the complexity of the
problem.
Therefore, it is most efficient to allocate a fine grid only in critical areas and a coarser grid
elsewhere. Additional factors to consider in a mesh are:
• avoid obtuse triangles in semiconductor regions, particularly in current path and high
field areas.
• avoid abrupt discontinuities in mesh density.
• avoid thin triangles. The ratio of longest to shortest edge in a mesh triangle should be in
the order of 10 but not 100.
• use several mesh layers in a material layer, particularly for very thin material or doping
layers.
• for most simulations, 2000 - 3000 mesh points are adequate.
These principles can generally ensure accurate solutions with quick convergence times. Poor
meshes can lead to inaccurate answers, poor convergence times or even lack of convergence,
leaving you without a solution. A significant number of device simulation problems are
caused by not adhering to the above principles.

15 DevEdit User’s Manual

EXAMPLE 1 - CREATE A NEW STRUCTURE Tutorial

2.2 EXAMPLE 1 - CREATE A NEW STRUCTURE

To start DEVEDIT, enter:
devedit &
in a terminal window. This starts DEVEDIT in the GUI (opposed to batch) mode. Note the
work panel on the right side of DEVEDIT, this home panel returns after other functions have
been applied. In this first example, a recessed AlGaAs/InGaAs HEMT is created.

Figure 2-1 DevEdit Graphics User Interface

16 DevEdit User’s Manual

EXAMPLE 1 - CREATE A NEW STRUCTURE Tutorial

2.2.1 Work Area

DEVEDIT starts with a work area that uses a default setting. To change the size of this work
area, use the Menu (right) mouse button over Regions and select Resize Work Area.... A
new panel will then appear on the right. You can change the Depth (y) and Length (x)
minimum and maximum to desired values. For this tutorial, set [Link] to -0.05, [Link] to 0.5,
[Link] to zero, and [Link] to 4.5. Then, press Return after typing each value and click on
Apply. Careful choice of the device in the coordinate system can prevent confusion at later
stages.

Note: After entering values into the text boxes in DEVEDIT, press Return for the value to be accepted.

Figure 2-2 Resize Work Area Menu

17 DevEdit User’s Manual

EXAMPLE 1 - CREATE A NEW STRUCTURE Tutorial

2.2.2 Defining Regions

Adding a Region
Creating a device begins with adding regions. Each region consists of one material, although
an area of a single material can consist of more than one region. Under the Regions pull-
down menu, choose Add region.... The menu on the right of DEVEDIT changes with the title
Add Region. DEVEDIT allows you to create geometrical shapes either by using the mouse or
by typing the coordinates of the region.
Using the Mouse
Use the left mouse button and click on the location (0, 0.05), noting that the location of the
mouse is displayed in the X and Y locators. Continue to choose the points (4.5, 0.05), (4.5,
0.5), (0, 0.5). If a mistake was made in the locations of the points, press the middle mouse
button to remove the point.
Using the Keyboard
Alternatively, type the X and Y locations of each point in the bottom of the right panel, press
return after each number, and then click on Add. The point will then appear in the work area.
You can also change the location of a point by selecting the point in the Polygon box (using
the left mouse button, so the point is highlighted), changing the X or Y locations by entering
the correct location, pressing Return, then clicking on Replace.

Figure 2-3 Add Region and Constructing a Device

18 DevEdit User’s Manual

EXAMPLE 1 - CREATE A NEW STRUCTURE Tutorial

Material Selection and Uniform Doping

After entering the corners of the region, you need to enter the material and doping. Use the
right mouse button at the Material menu button, choose AlGaAs. Finally using the right
mouse button at the New Polygon, select Set Base ImpuritiesDoping TypeGeneric
Donors/Acceptors, enter 1e14 by Acceptors, and press Return (Figure 2-4).

Figure 2-4 Adding Uniform Doping Throughout a Region

19 DevEdit User’s Manual

EXAMPLE 1 - CREATE A NEW STRUCTURE Tutorial

Setting Mole (Composition) Fraction

Composition fractions for ternary and quaternary materials are defined in Appendix B of the
ATLAS USER ’S MANUAL. To enter the composition fraction for a material in DEVEDIT, again
go to Set Base Impurities and under Doping Type and select Composition Fractions. Enter
0.2 for the Comp. Fraction X and press Return (Figure 2-5). The AlGaAs substrate region is
now completely defined, with geometry, doping and composition fraction also defined. Once
done, click on Apply.

Figure 2-5 Setting the Mole Fraction

Modifying Regions
If you want to change a region or correct a mistake, such as clicking on Apply before entering
all the settings (including doping and composition fraction), the easiest method to correct the
problem is to modify the existing region. When DEVEDIT is displaying the home menu on the
right, simply left click on the region name in the upper right box, then right click the Region
pull-down menu and select Modify Region. The right display lists the existing information in
a similar format to Add Region. When modifications are complete, click on Apply.
Next, add the GaAs cap regions. Again under Regions, select Add Region. Enter a polygon
beginning at (0,0). Continue to choose the points (1.1, 0.0), (1.5, 0.05) and (0.0, 0.05). To add
doping, select Generic Donors/Acceptors and enter 5e21 by Donors.
Enter another polygon in the same manner to create the right cap region, at locations (2.9, 0),
(4.5,0), (4.5, 0.05), (2.5, 0.05), GaAs, with the same doping.

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Etch then Adding a Region

Next, an InGaAs layer is added. This step is performed in a similar way to adding a region,
except the location is being etched from existing material (the AlGaAs substrate). The default
setting for Add Mode is Etch then Add, meaning the new region displaces, or overwrites,
any existing material region. The other mode, Add Only, adds a new region only where no
other region has been defined. Add an InGaAs region from (0, 0.084), (4.5, 0.084), (4.5,
0.098), and (0, 0.098). The precision of these coordinates exceeds the default of the mouse
setting. You have two options, either enter the coordinates of each point and click Add after
each point, or use the mouse first to select approximate locations, then select the points in the
Polygon box, and edit the points (click Replace after each point). Set the doping to 5e15
donor concentration.

Figure 2-6 Etching, then Adding a Region - Overwriting a Material in an Existing Area

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Add Electrodes
The last regions to add are the electrodes. In ATLAS, only the boundary of an electrode
contacting the semiconductor is considered. Therefore, the height of the electrode and the
mesh inside of the electrode are irrelevant. Add a gold region at (1.7, 0), (2.3, 0), (2.3, 0.05),
(1.7, 0.05). To identify this region as an electrode, click on the button next to Electrode, then
use the right mouse button to click Electrode names, and choose gate.

Figure 2-7 Adding a Gate Electrode

In a similar manner, add a source contact at (0, 0), (0, -0.01), (1, -0.01), and (1, 0). Add a
drain contact at (3.5, 0), (3.5, -0.01), (4.5, -0.01), and (4.5, 0). Much of the geometry of the
device is now complete. The last step is to add impurities.

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2.2.3 Defining Impurities

Adding Impurities
If an impurity concentration is constant through a region, the preferred manner to define the
dopant is in the Region definition as discussed above. For non-uniform impurities, include
impurities that are in more than one region, then define the impurities separately as described
below.
Under Impurities, select Add impurity and the menu for impurities will become available.
Next to Impurity, select Donors. For Start X and Y values, use (0,0) and (1, 0.08). Note that
only two points are selected, not four, and the opposite corners of a rectangle should be
selected. A one-dimensional line is acceptable; it is considered a flat rectangle. This region is
the impurity source region, and the impurity concentration is the peak concentration,
uniformly throughout the region. Set the Peak Concentration to 5e+21 and the Reference
Value to 1e+20. The Reference Value is used as a scaling factor in the Roll-Off Functions
(see Section 3.8 “ROLL-OFF FUNCTION”).
The Roll-Off functions calculate the vertical and horizontal roll-off from the source impurity
region (the peak concentration) as a function of x, y, and in three dimensional structures, z.
The Join Function calculates the dopant concentration when both an x and y distance exists.
Set the Join Function to Multiply. Select the Y Roll-off as Gaussian (Dist) and Distance as
0.048. Select the X Rolloff as Error Function and Constant as 0.02. Then, click on Apply.
Remember to press Return after entering the numbers. See Figure 2-8.

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Figure 2-8 Add Impurity

Add another impurity region from (3.5, 0) to (4.5, 0.08) with similar roll-off properties.
Displaying the Doping
Back on the main menu, there are options to display, or Show, attributes of the structure. The
first button defaults to Net Doping. The second button defaults to Off. Select the second
button to Fine. This option shows a relatively fine gradation of doping throughout the
structure. Coarse, Medium, and Very Fine display options also exist, but be alert that the
finer the display, the longer the refresh time takes. Options under Net Doping includes
separate options for donors, acceptors, and specific impurities. You can also select the
location of the Contour Legend.
Modify Impurities
The impurity regions added are listed in the main menu at the bottom under User Added
Impurities. Select the impurity of interest (left mouse button), then under the Impurities
button, select Modify impurity.... A new menu, similar to the Add Impurity menu, will
become available. Using these principles and techniques, you can design any device of
interest. The next concern is creating a mesh for the device.

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2.2.4 Mesh Creation

MeshBuild
The Mesh pull-down menu has a MeshBuild command. This command reads the current
boundary conditioning conditions, the base mesh, the geometry and impurities, and mesh
constraints, and creates a mesh, using the mesh parameters available. The default parameters
create a mesh adequate to define the geometry of the device, but little else. It is unsatisfactory
to describe the details of the impurity distribution, for instance, or the material layers for
device simulation in ATLAS.
Mesh Parameters
Under the Mesh pull-down menu, there is a command of Mesh Parameters. Base Mesh
Height and Width may be used to create more symmetric meshes for some devices. For most
devices, setting Mesh Constraints provide the same results and also allow more fine tuning.
Therefore, these parameters were not used in this example. In devices with extremely detailed
region borders, it may be turned Off. Click on Cancel. See Section 3.5.1 “Boundary
Conditioning” for more information.
Refine on Quantities
This command allows you to refine the mesh on gradients of various quantities, including
donors, acceptors, total and net doping, and molar composition. If the structure was imported
from ATLAS, other quantities, including electrical field and potential, are available. This is a
useful tool for refining the grid on areas that require a finer grid, namely, where gradients
exist.
Right click on the Add button and select Donors. Then, right click on the Mesh pull-down
menu and select MeshBuild again. MeshBuild operates by building a mesh with instructions
of mesh generation, which have been modified when the Refine on Quantities was changed
to include donor gradients.

Note: The mesh has changed to include a finer mesh where donor concentration gradients exist.

Click on Done at the bottom of the panel. This action returns you to the main DEVEDIT panel.
If the existing panel is not the main panel, click on Cancel or Done on the existing panel.
DEVEDIT returns you to the previous panel, and ultimately to the main panel. Near the bottom
of the main panel the Number of Points and Number of Triangles are listed. These numbers
are useful in order to gauge the total number of points with the more subjective interpretation
of the quality of the grid.
You can go back to Refine on Quantities. The Scale defaults to Logarithmic, which is
appropriate for dopant concentrations. Change the Sensitivity, then rebuild the mesh
(MeshBuild), and observe the effect on the total number of points. The Sensitivity setting
controls the extent of the gradient in which mesh points are added. A higher setting reduces
the density of the mesh. A lower setting increases the mesh density. The Transition value is
the minimum value that is considered for Meshbuilding purposes. For example, a gradient
donor concentration from 10e9 to 10e8 is not considered when the Transition value is set to
10e10 (the default).

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Figure 2-9 Mesh Refinement on the Donor Gradient

Mesh Constraints
The Mesh Constraints Menu is the principal area for controlling mesh construction. In this
section, you can control the maximum triangle ratio, the maximum and minimum height and
width, either throughout the device, or selectively in given regions, in material types, or
underneath regions or materials. Begin with selecting Semiconductor Regions in the
Material Types and Regions box. Click on the box next to Max. Height, and set the value
(either by typing or moving the slide bar) to 0.05 (all units of distance are microns). Similarly,
set the Max. Width to 0.25. These values are valid for the mesh creation in all semiconductor
regions. As mentioned previously, the mesh in insulators and electrodes are unimportant.
Therefore, it is acceptable to leave the mesh arbitrarily large in these regions. By clicking on
MeshBuild again, you will notice the mesh in the semiconductor regions now adheres to
these criteria.
Select the upper AlGaAs region. Again, the same mesh criteria are available for control for
this single layer. Change the Max. Height to 0.01. We strongly recommend that each material
layer, or region, have several (such as four) mesh layers. You can also adjust parameters for
other layers. It is recommended in this example to increase the mesh density in the
semiconductor layers so that several mesh layers exist in each region.

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Figure 2-10 Mesh Constraints Menu

Manual Refine Box
The Refine Box (MeshRefine Box) has the Refine X, Refine Y, Refine Both, and
Unrefine options. This meshing does not work within MeshBuild. Instead, it doubles the
density of the mesh, in the area specified, in the X, Y, or both directions, or reduces the mesh
density by half. But because these mesh changes are not easily reproduced, this action is not
recommended.

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2.2.5 Saving The File

You can, and should, save the file in two formats: the structure file and the command file. The
structure file is a format used by other SILVACO programs, including TONYPLOT and
ATLAS. Therefore, it is necessary to save the structure file for continued device simulation.
The command file is a list of the instructions used by DEVEDIT to create the structure and the
mesh. To make additional changes at a later time, save a command file so that the original set
of DEVEDIT instructions can be read. Additionally, running DEVEDIT in batch mode requires
the command file.
Structure File
To save a structure file, right-click FileSave as... and a pop-up menu will appear (Figure 2-
11). By convention, SILVACO structure files end with the [Link]. Choose a name
and use this extension (for instance, [Link]). Then, press the Save Structure
button. You can now use the file in ATLAS and TONYPLOT.
Command File
To save a command file, also right-click FileSave as... and enter a name ending with the
[Link] (for DEVEDIT). It is good practice to use the same filename as the structure file,
but ending with the [Link] extension. Therefore, in this case it would be
[Link].

Figure 2-11 File Save Menu

Batch Mode
You can also run DEVEDIT in batch mode, within DECKBUILD, without using the graphics
user interface (GUI) mode used above. Although you can directly input the command
statements to create a structure and mesh, this method is more difficult than using DEVEDIT in
GUI mode. Once the command file has been saved, however, it can be easily loaded, edited,
and runned in batch mode within DECKBUILD.
Start DECKBUILD with deckbuild &, left click on FileOpen, and select a DEVEDIT
command file ([Link]). This command file can be runned inside DECKBUILD with
minor modifications.

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The first line of the DEVEDIT is similar to DevEdit version=2.4.0.R in which it is

recommended that this line become a comment, beginning with #. Then, you should add a
new first line that reads go devedit, or if you want to retain the version number “go
devedit simflags=”-V 2.4.0.R” (or whatever the version number of DEVEDIT in use).

Figure 2-12 Running DevEdit in Batch Mode within DeckBuild

We also recommend that you add the line structure outfile=[Link] at the end of the
file to explicitly save the structure in a structure file.

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2.3 EXAMPLE 2 - REMESHING AN EXISTING STRUCTURE

2.3.1 Loading The Structure
Typically, a structure is created in ATHENA and saved in a structure file. For this tutorial, an
existing SILVACO example will be used.

2.3.2 Obtain Existing Structure

Start DECKBUILD, by entering:
deckbuild &
in a UNIX terminal window. Right-click on Main Control and select Examples.... The
DECKBUILD: EXAMPLES library of examples will appear in a separate pop-up menu. Double-
click on MOS1, then double-click again on [Link]. Then, click on Load example.
This loads the ATHENA/ATLAS input deck into DECKBUILD, which copies the structure and
log files into the directory where you launched DECKBUILD.
In DEVEDIT, left click on File and select Load. Then, highlight (again with the mouse)
mos1ex01_0.str and click on Load File. The ATHENA created structure is now in
DEVEDIT. DEVEDIT command files (*.de) are loaded in the same manner.

Figure 2-13 DevEdit Load File Menu

2.3.3 Structure Editing

We recommend that if you created the structure in ATHENA, do not make any changes to the
structure (i.e., material boundaries, doping distribution). If you created the structure in
DEVEDIT, then you should edit the command file (*.de) but not the structure file. Once you
finish the edits to a DEVEDIT command file, you should save both a command file and a
structure file.
For this example and this purpose, only change the mesh. Minor changes to the material
boundaries will be done in boundary conditioning as described in “Boundary Conditioning”
on page 32.

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2.3.4 Display
Zoom
You can depress the left mouse button anywhere on the displayed structure, and drag it to
another location, defining a rectangle between the two points. Once you release the mouse
button, only the selected area will be displayed (zoom). The bottom and right axes will have
sliders for panning. The Full View button on the right menu will return the display to the
entire work area.
Displaying the Doping
Also on the main menu, there are options to display, or show, attributes of the structure. The
first button defaults to Net Doping, and the second button defaults to Off. Select the second
button to Fine. This option shows a relatively fine gradation of doping throughout the
structure. Coarse, Medium, and Very Fine display options also exist. Be aware that the finer
the display, the longer the refresh time takes. Options under Net Doping include separate
options for donors, acceptors, and specific impurities. One can also select the location of the
Contour Legend, by using the right mouse button adjacent to Contour Legend.
Impurity Junctions
This toggle switch will display the p-n junctions in a device.

Figure 2-14 Displaying the Net Doping Distribution in DevEdit

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2.3.5 Mesh Creation

Boundary Conditioning
There is one important issue that must be considered when creating a new mesh in an existing
structure. The first step that you should perform before creating a new mesh is boundary
conditioning.
Material boundaries are defined by border points. Necessarily, these border points are also
points that define mesh locations. You can make slight modifications to the structure to
minimize the number of border points. This process of eliminating points that are not critical
is called boundary conditioning. Examples of such unnecessary points include points along a
straight line not contributing to the geometry of the structure and colinear points (or nearly
colinear, such as within one degree).
Right click on Mesh and select Mesh Parameters. Both the Mesh Parameters and the
Boundary Conditioning sections are displayed. By default, Boundary Conditioning is set
to Automatic. Note the border points in the structure, denoted as red dots, particularly along
the oxide material boundary. If no boundary conditioning were performed, these points would
remain and require mesh points at these locations. Click on Apply underneath Boundary
Conditioning. The mesh is removed but many border points are removed also.

Figure 2-15 Border Points Defining Material Boundaries Before Boundary Conditioning

Figure 2-16 Border Points Defining Material Boundaries After Boundary Conditioning

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The Max. Line Slope is a ratio (greater than one) between the length (X) and height (Y) of
mesh triangles along a material boundary. If a mesh triangle has a line slope greater than this
value, the triangle is subdivided, so that the original material boundary line is divided into
two lines. One line is horizontal (or vertical), and the other line is with an angle set by the
maximum line slope.

Figure 2-17 Boundary Conditioning with Respect to Maximum Line Slope

Note: The Maximum Triangle Ratio should be larger than the Maximum Line Slope.

The Rounding Unit is a distance to which all boundary points are rounded to an even
multiple of this value.
The Line Straightening value is an angle. If two boundary segments have a joining angle
equal to or greater than (180 - [Link]), the two line segments are combined
by removing the joining point.

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Figure 2-18 Line Straightening

In general, the default settings for boundary conditioning are satisfactory for most structures.
After boundary conditioning (i.e., clicking Apply), you can proceed to Refine on Quantities
and Mesh Constraints.
Mesh Parameters
Under the Mesh pull-down menu, there is an option called Mesh Parameters along with
Boundary Conditioning. Base Mesh Height and Width can be used to create a fairly
uniform underlying mesh. By making these smaller, it may help create more symmetric
meshes for some devices. For most devices, setting Mesh Constraints provide the same
results and also allow for more fine tuning. Therefore, these parameters were not used in this
example.
Refine on Quantities
This action allows you to refine the mesh on gradients of various quantities, including donors,
acceptors, total and net doping, and molar composition (if the structure was imported from
ATLAS, other quantities, including electrical field and potential are available). This is a
useful tool for refining the grid on areas that require a finer grid, namely, where gradients
exist. This tool is very useful, particularly near p-n junctions.
To refine the mesh, right click on MeshRefine on Quantities... and right click on the
AddNet Doping. Then, right click on MeshMeshBuild (or left click on Mesh, which
selects MeshBuild by default). MeshBuild operates by building a mesh with instructions of
mesh generation, which have been modified when the Refine on Quantities was changed to
include gradients in the net doping. The mesh has changed to include a finer mesh where
gradients of the net doping exist.

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Figure 2-19 Refine on Quantities Menu for Mesh Refinement on Net Doping Gradient
Click on Done at the bottom of the panel. This action returns to the main DEVEDIT panel. If
the existing panel is not the main panel, click on Cancel or Done on the exiting panel.
DEVEDIT returns you to the previous panel and ultimately to the main panel. Near the bottom
of the main panel, the Number of Points and Number of Triangles are listed. These
numbers are useful to gauge the total number of points with the more subjective interpretation
of the quality of the grid.
Return to Refine on Quantities. The Scale default is Logarithmic, which is appropriate for
doping concentrations. If the value of the quantity varies more than the sensitivity parameter,
the mesh is made more dense locally. Accordingly, decreasing the value of the sensitivity
increases the number of mesh points. You can change the sensitivity value slightly, then select
MeshMeshBuild and see the effect on the mesh.
The Transition value is the minimum value of the quantity that is considered significant. If
the Transition value is set to 10e10, then gradients of Net Doping between 10e9 and 10e8
are not considered when the mesh is created.

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Mesh Constraints
The Mesh Constraints section is the principal method for controlling mesh construction. In
this section, you can control the maximum triangle ratio, the maximum and minimum height
and width, either throughout the device, or selectively in given regions, in material types, or
underneath regions or materials.
It is important to avoid obtuse triangles in the semiconductor, however, obtuse triangles in the
poly gate, oxide and metal regions are acceptable. A logical method would be to allow obtuse
triangles in all regions, and then override the semiconductor regions to only include acute and
right triangles.
Begin with selecting All Regions in the Material Types and Regions box. For Max. Angle,
either enter or move the slide bar to 150. Next, select Semiconductor Regions and click on
the box next to Max. Angle and set the value to 90. After re-building the Mesh, you can
observe that the number of mesh points have decreased. This has been done without adding
obtuse triangles to the semiconductor, yet relaxing the mesh in areas that are not of interest.
Further constraints can be imposed in the semiconductor regions. Set the Max. Height to 0.1
(all units of distance are microns). Similarly, set the Max. Width to 0.1. These values are
valid for the mesh creation in all semiconductor regions. As mentioned previously, the mesh
in insulators and electrodes are unimportant. Therefore, it is acceptable to leave the mesh
arbitrarily large in these regions. By clicking on Meshbuild again, you will notice that the
mesh in the semiconductor now adheres to these criteria.

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Figure 2-20 Mesh after Refining on Constraints in Semiconductor

You can perform further refinement in more specific areas. Scroll down in the Material
Types and Regions box. In addition to the general areas (all regions, semiconductors,
insulators and metal regions) and the specific regions (in this case, silicon, oxide, gate (poly),
source and drain), there are fixed box constraints under region constraints and under
material constraints. These latter options can be very useful for MOS devices, since the
channel area is a critical area for a dense mesh.
Select Add New Under Region Constraints. Then, click on the Location button (if not
already depressed), which is adjacent to the Constraints. Next to Under Region, select (with
right mouse button) gate. Next to In Material Type, select Semiconductor. Set Depth to
0.1. This procedure has selected the semiconductor underneath the gate, to a depth of 0.1
microns from the silicon surface, as the area for mesh refinement. Next, depress Constraints,
which displays the same Mesh Constraints menu seen previously. Set Max. Height to 0.02,
and Max. Width to 0.04. Click on Apply, and click on MeshBuild.
The structure now has a mesh that is better suited for device simulation. The original mesh
was created primarily for process simulation, which has different requirements, including
dense mesh near implant ranges, silicon - oxide interfaces, along diffusion regions, and
oxidation areas. For device simulation, the priorities include non-obtuse triangles in the
semiconductor, p-n junction boundaries, and areas of high electric field and carrier mobility

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(such as the channel region in a MOSFET), and do not include oxide shape, electrode shape,
and regions far from electrical current.

Note: See S-PISCES chapter of the ATLAS User’s Manual for details on typical mesh size required for
MOSFETs.

2.3.6 Saving The File

You can save and, should, save the file in two formats: the structure file and the command
file. The structure file is a format used by other SILVACO programs, including TONYPLOT
and ATLAS. Therefore, you need to save the structure file for continued device simulation.
The command file is a list of the instructions used by DEVEDIT to create the mesh (and the
structure, if it was made in DEVEDIT, as in Example 1). If you want to make additional
changes at a later time, you need to save a command file so that the original set of DEVEDIT
instructions can be read. Additionally, running DEVEDIT in batch mode requires the command
file.
Structure File
To save a structure file, right-click FileSave as... and a pop-up menu will appear (Figure 2-
11). By convention, SILVACO structure files end with the [Link]. Choose a name
and use this extension (for instance, [Link]). Then, press the Save Structure button.
You can now use the file in ATLAS and TONYPLOT.
Command File
To save a command file, also right-click FileSave as... and enter a name ending with the
[Link] (for DEVEDIT). It is good practice to use the same filename as the structure file,
but ending with the conventional .de extension. Therefore, in this case it would be
[Link].

Figure 2-21 DevEdit File Saving Menu

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Batch Mode
The goal of DEVEDIT in batch mode for this case is to automate DEVEDIT’s mesh creation
algorithm, using user defined parameters without the steps of manual regridding. Therefore,
you can make minor changes of the process simulation without requiring you to complete the
steps of DEVEDIT in GUI mode, since the criteria used in DEVEDIT (such as mesh constraints
in material layers, refined grid along p-n junctions, loose grid deep in the substrat) are general
and would be valid for similar devices of minor process changes. Therefore, this purpose for
batch mode is different than in Example 1.
In this example, the initial structure was created in ATHENA. Device simulation would be
performed in ATLAS. This example demonstrates how to incorporate the DEVEDIT re-mesh
syntax within the same input deck between the ATHENA and ATLAS sections.
You can start any text editor or use DECKBUILD for editing.
To start DECKBUILD, enter deckbuild &, left click on FileOpen, and select a DEVEDIT
command file ([Link]).
The first line of the DEVEDIT is similar to DevEdit version=2.4.0.R, in which it is
recommended that this line become a comment, beginning with #. Then, add as a new first
line to read go devedit, or if you want to retain the version number, go devedit
simflags=”-V 2.4.0.R” (or whatever the version number of DEVEDIT in use).
Because the structure was initially created in ATHENA, the DEVEDIT commands to redefine
the structure boundaries is redundant and should be deleted. The relevant section begins with
#Set Meshing Parameters. Therefore, all intermediate lines previous should be removed.
This truncated DEVEDIT batch file should be moved or copied into the ATHENA/ATLAS
input file, beginning after the ATHENA syntax and before the ATLAS syntax (See Figure 2-
22).
The last line
of the ATHENA section is tonyplot mos1ex01_0.str -set
mos1ex01_0.set. ATLAS begins with go atlas at the bottom of the DECKBUILD main
window.

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Figure 2-22 Running DevEdit in Batch Mode within DeckBuild after ATHENA Process Simulation
We also recommend that you add the line structure outfile=[Link] at the end of the
DEVEDIT section of the input file to explicitly save the structure in a structure file. Any
filename can be used with the convention of the .str extension used for structure files.
With this procedure, you can run the entire deck and incorporate the mesh re-creation from
DEVEDIT. Any minor changes in the ATHENA process simulation file does not require
changes to the DEVEDIT command file.

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An alternative method of using DEVEDIT in batch mode is to use the command file as a
distinct file and not incorporate it within ATHENA-ATLAS input file(s). As already
mentioned, you must edit the file to remove the structure definition (up to the # Set
Meshing Parameters line). DEVEDIT, however, must initialize from the original structure.
This can be accomplished by including an initialize command immediately after
commencing DEVEDIT. Therefore:
go devedit init infile=mos1ex01_0.str
then continue with the command file. The ATLAS file would then begin with
go atlas mesh infile=[Link]
or whatever name of the structure file the user-defined at the end of the DEVEDIT command
file.

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2.4 Advanced Features

2.4.1 3D Structures
Treatment of three dimensional structures in DEVEDIT3D is much the same as the two
dimensional version with the exception of the Z plane. The handling of region addition and
modification, electrodes, impurities, mesh parameters and constraints, and boundary
conditioning are all done similarly in 3D as 2D. Anyone wishing to use DEVEDIT3D should
either this read first or both of these examples.
DEVEDIT3D creates a prismatic based 3D solid consisting of several 2D planes. Each region
is initially defined throughout all Z planes, then the region must be defined for beginning and
ending Z planes.
One capability of DEVEDIT3D is to extend an existing 2D structure (created in ATHENA) into
three dimensions. Such an example is discussed below.
Start DEVEDIT3D by entering devedit3d & in a UNIX terminal window. In a similar fashion
to Section 2.3 “EXAMPLE 2 - REMESHING AN EXISTING STRUCTURE”, start
DECKBUILD and load the example mos2ex04 into DECKBUILD. In DEVEDIT, load in
mos2ex04_0.str by right-clicking on FileLoad... and a DevEdit Load window will
appear. Then, select the file mos2ex04_0.str and enter an End Z value of 1.1 and click on
Load File.
You can modify the polysilicon gate in the same manner as the 2D version by selecting the
region and by selecting RegionsModify Region. The X and Y points are maintained, but
the Start Z and End Z planes should be changed to 0.3 and 0.8 respectively. Click on Apply.
To add aluminum electrodes, select Regions, Add region..., and specify the X and Y
coordinates (either by mouse or by keyboard) of (0.15, -0.15), (0.15, 0.05), (0.6, 0.05), and
(0.6, -0.15). The Start Z and End Z should be set to 0.0 and 0.1 respectively. Toggle the
electrode button, select drain, and click on Apply. A similar set of X and Y coordinates
should be used to define a source contact, but from Z=1.0 to Z=1.1.
The remaining difference between the 2D and 3D versions of DEVEDIT is the Z-plane mesh.
Right click on Mesh, then select Z planes. Mesh planes in the Z plane are automatically
inserted at material boundaries. These mesh planes are listed in boldface and cannot be
modified or deleted. Additional mesh planes are included, and are listed in italics, which can
be edited.
You have three methods of controlling the Z plane mesh:
• Max. Plane Spacing: Limits the distance in the Z plane of the mesh.
• Max. Spacing Ratio: The ratio of the spacing from one neighboring mesh plane to the
next.
• Selectively add, modify, and delete specific mesh planes by entering the location and
spacing of the plane.
DEVEDIT3D, however, overrides modifications you have entered to maintain the Max. Plane
Spacing or Max. Spacing Ratio constraints.
There are no 3D graphics in DEVEDIT3D. To view the 3D structure after meshing, save a
structure file. This file can be loaded and displayed in TONYPLOT3D.

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Figure 2-23 Three-dimensional Mesh Creation in Z-plane

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2.4.2 Combining Two ATHENA Structures into a Single Device

Since CPU time required to run process simulation is super-linear with the number of grid
points, there can be significant CPU time savings by splitting a large simulation into sections.
These sections can be joined together at the end of the process simulation using DEVEDIT.
The JOIN function combines the device currently loaded in DEVEDIT with another saved
structure into one device. There are controls for aligning the edges of the materials or
regions.

Figure 2-24 Device Structure Joined in DevEdit

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2.4.3 Stretch and Cut

DEVEDIT has three commands, STRETCH, SQUEEZE, and CUT, to modify the structure
and to increase or decrease height or width. Both commands are available in both the GUI
mode and batch mode of DEVEDIT. These commands are under Regions in the GUI mode of
DEVEDIT.
STRETCH and SQUEEZE functions allow a line or region to be expanded or contracted
along the vertical or horizontal directions. For rounded shapes, the curvature is altered, but
left intact. Stretch does not work as a simple add function. Otherwise, it causes a
discontinuity in the curvature.
With an existing structure in DEVEDIT, select RegionsStretch/Squeeze. The Direction
buttons will appear. These buttons allow you to stretch either horizontally (left or right) and
vertically (up or down). The mouse or keyboard can be used for Start and End locations. The
Old Size indicates the existing size of the line or region selected. The New Size allows you to
adjust the region size to either smaller or larger than the existing size.

Figure 2-25 Stretching an Existing Structure

The Cut... function works in a similar manner. You can select the area using the mouse or
keyboard and delete the area.

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2.4.4 Circular Devices

DEVEDIT also allows you to create circular objects. You can create both circles and arcs. This
feature is unique to DEVEDIT within the SILVACO VWF suite of tools–neither ATHENA nor
ATLAS can easily create a circular region. To create a circular object, select RegionAdd
Region. Then, right click on Move/Add Point and select New Circle/Arc. The right panel
then displays Create Circle or Sector. The first Mouse mode setting is Set Center... Click
on a point in the work area to select the center of the circle. After selecting a center point for
the circle, the Mouse mode changes to Set Radius and Start Angle... You can select a
complete, closed circle, or restrict the region to a portion of a circle. Once chosen, the Mouse
mode changes to Set End Angle... The Points around circle option allows you to determine
the number of points of the circle.
DEVEDIT is still approximating a circular region with straight interconnecting lines. But you
can choose between 30° segments (12 points) to 1° segments (360 points). The latter
approximating a circle quite well.

Figure 2-26 Creating a Circular Region

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2.4.5 Summary
The goal of creating a mesh in DEVEDIT is to accommodate competing interests of numerical
efficiency and accuracy in device simulation. DEVEDIT can be used to create a device
structure in a graphics user interface mode (as in Section 2.2 “EXAMPLE 1 - CREATE A
NEW STRUCTURE”), or to create a new mesh in an existing structure (as in Section 2.3
“EXAMPLE 2 - REMESHING AN EXISTING STRUCTURE”).
Parameters that you defined control the advanced mesh algorithm within DEVEDIT. Advanced
features in DEVEDIT include 3D structure creation and prismatic mesh generation, combining
two structures into a single device, stretching and cutting, and circular device creation.
Beginning users can find examples in DECKBUILD EXAMPLES of DEVEDIT in batch mode. If
you need help, you can contact SILVACO’s Applications Engineers.

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 Chapter 3
Editing Functions
STRUCTURE EDITING Editing Functions

3.1 STRUCTURE EDITING

This section describes the general editing functions that are available in GUI mode. DEVEDIT
stores a history of all events that have taken place under DEVEDIT control. These events are
stored internally and can be written to a Command file (see Section 3.6.6 “Saving the
SILVACO Standard Structure File”). The GUI mode is not available on Windows.

3.1.1 Zooming
The Zoom function is completed by holding the left mouse button down and dragging over
the desired zoom area. In the event of needing to zoom in halfway through object definition
when the mouse button cannot be held down, holding the Shift key down overrides any
editing actions and zooms in. Zooming out is accomplished by double-clicking. This action
zooms out by a factor of four times.

3.1.2 Panning
Panning over a structure is accomplished by moving the scroll bars situated initially at the top
right and bottom left of the editing screen. Holding the left mouse button down while
selecting either end of the scroll button moves the displayed structure to the left and right and
up or down. A single click on the scroll bar end stops and pans all the way across the
displayed structure. Panning can also be accomplished by holding the middle mouse button
down on the inside the main edit window, while dragging the structure vertically or laterally
across the screen.

3.1.3 Editing Summary

The capability of DEVEDIT to define structures on the screen is explained in the next three
sections (Material, Doping, and Meshing). A region is generally defined as a piece of
material structure, for example, a gate, an oxide, an aluminum contact, or a poly layer.
Adding a material region to the DEVEDIT structure is accomplished by following five simple
steps.
1. Select the required resolution.
2. Select the Add Region mode.
3. Select the material, its color and doping concentration
4. Draw the region on the screen.
5. Click on the Apply button.

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3.1.4 Selecting The Resolution

When drawing the material region, DEVEDIT snaps boundary point locations of the newly
defined region to the resolution defined by the drawing grid. A drawing grid displayed as tick
marks on the Main panel can be overlaid by clicking on the Grid button. If a very thin layer
is required, the tick marks may not allow this resolution. Increasing the resolution can be
accomplished by zooming into the region of interest. It may also be useful to split the screen
allowing the use of more than one drawing resolution. Thus, the resolution of the screen
should be chosen before adding a material region.

Note: Zooming in can be accomplished midway through a region definition by pressing the Shift key down. The
Shift key over-rides the current action so the left mouse button will always control a zoom in function while
the Shift key is held down. Region definition can continue once the Shift key is released.

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EDITING REGIONS Editing Functions

3.2 EDITING REGIONS

3.2.1 Adding a Region
To activate the Add Region mode, select RegionsAdd. The right side of the DevEdit Base
Window then changes to show the Add Region control panel. You can select the Add mode
at the top of the Add Region panel. Two options exist and determine the way regions are
added to an existing structure. The Add Only option adds a region without recessing into an
existing region. In this mode, the existing regions take precedence over the new region being
added. The Etch then Add option recesses a new region into an existing region. The new
region being added takes precedence over the existing regions.

Note: You can etch away or delete a section by creating a new region using the Etch then Add mode and deleting
the whole region after defining it.

3.2.2 Selecting Region Material

A region’s material should be selected before, or during, the process of region definition.
Although Silicon is the default material, you can select other materials from the Material
menu on the Add Region panel. A large number of materials are currently available on the
Material menu, and more materials can be provided by contacting the local SILVACO
representative.
Each material is assigned a different color by default. This can be changed, if two regions
have to be distinguished, by selecting a color from the Color menu on the Add Region panel
(Figure 3-1). Colors are selected purely for DEVEDIT visualization. The color information is
not saved into the final structure file and so it is not applicable for later applications, i.e.,
TONYPLOT.

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EDITING REGIONS Editing Functions

Figure 3-1 Color Menu

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DRAWING REGIONS Editing Functions

3.3 DRAWING REGIONS

A region is normally defined by a polygon, which denotes its outer boundary. This boundary
can be drawn by clicking the left mouse button on the first point of the polygon. The point is
placed when the left mouse button is released, not when it is pressed. This is to match the feel
when points are dragged and is described later. This starts a new polygon. After placing the
first point, a line is rubber-banded to the mouse until the second point is placed. After that,
two lines are rubber-banded. One from the previous point to the mouse; the other from the
mouse to the first point creating a polygon. Points are added until the Done Polygon button or
the right mouse button is clicked. When the Done Polygon button appears, you can click on it
with the right mouse button in the drawing window.
For example, to define a rectangular region, click the left mouse button four times in the
screen at the vertices required to make up the rectangle. Then, click the right mouse button to
finish the polygon. You can make selections from the right side control area any time. An
example of this operation is shown in Figure 3-2, where two regions have been defined with a
third region partially defined.
After clicking on Apply, each region added to the screen is listed as a material and as a
number on the scrolling list in the region screen. You can select regions by clicking left on an
entry in the scrolling list. A selected region is surrounded by a red outline in the main edit
window.

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DRAWING REGIONS Editing Functions

Figure 3-2 Drawing a Region

Regions can also be made from multiple polygons. For example, an oxide region can
completely surround a polysilicon region, thereby having two polygons (an outer edge and an
inner edge). Normally, this would be done by first adding the oxide as one polygon. Using the
Etch then Add mode, you can add the polysilicon region to change the oxide region in the
process. You can add a second polygon, after completing the first polygon, by selecting New
Polygon or by clicking on the left button at the starting location for this new polygon. Use the
New Polygon option, if you wish to start the new polygon near an existing point or line.
Otherwise, it is considered a modification operation and does NOT start a new polygon.
Alternatively, a region may contain no area but only describe an interface line. This is
sometimes used for electrodes to limit the mesh size or show a contact beginning at a
simulation limit. To draw this type of region before adding any points, select New Line
instead of New Polygon.
You can create a polygon by selecting New Circle/Arc. This forms a regular polygon, or a
piece of a regular polygon, after selecting various parameters. These parameters include the
center of the polygon/circle, a radius, a start and ending angle, and the number of faces (angle
between points).

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3.3.1 Setting Base Impurity

A region can be made of a material with a constant base doping. To define this property, select
Set Base Impurities. This completes any shape editing currently performed if possible. You
cannot change the base impurities while adding or modifying a region until the region has a
consistent shape. The impurity types are separated into five categories. Here is a list of the
supported impurities:
Silicon Donors
• Antimony
• Arsenic
• Phosphorus
Silicon Acceptors
• Aluminum
• Boron
• Gallium
• Indium
Generic Donors/Acceptors
• Donors
• Acceptors
Composition Fractions
• Comp. Fraction X
• Comp. Fraction Y
Net Doping (directly)
You can also set some of these values using Resistivity tables by clicking on the Set Si
Resistivity.

3.3.2 Deleting Regions

You can delete a region by first selecting the region to be deleted and selecting
RegionsDelete. To select a region, select the region listed in the scrolling list of regions on
the main panel. A selected region is surrounded with a red colored highlighted border in the
main screen. Adding a region can be used to etch a region out of an existing structure.

3.3.3 Modify Regions

To modify a region, select the region on the main panel in the region list and select
RegionsModify. The region parameters can now be changed as in the add region.

3.3.4 Deleting Boundary Points

Boundary points on a region’s boundary can be deleted at any time. To delete a single point or
a number of points, select the Delete Points option. The cursor appears as a skull and cross
bones. Hold the left mouse down and drag a box over the points to be deleted. Upon releasing
the mouse button, the points are deleted and the region modified. This may be important in
minimizing the number of unnecessary points leading to large numbers of triangles.

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DOPING DEFINITION Editing Functions

3.4 DOPING DEFINITION

Doping can be defined analytically with DEVEDIT. Doping can be graphically defined by
indicating an area or line. This line or box is given attributes that describe in detail the doping
to be added to the structure.

3.4.1 Defining an Impurity Source Line

You can define doping about a line source drawn on the device. The line source can be
vertical or horizontal to the main axis. To define a doping source line, select
ImpuritiesAdd. The Impurity Panel will appear in the area to the right of the base window
(see Figure 3-3). Set the Draw Mode switch to Line. A line source has a constant doping
concentration along that line segment and the concentration can roll off in magnitude in any
perpendicular direction from the line segment. To define the line on the screen, click the left
mouse bottom at the start of the line and click again at the end of the line. Once drawn, you
can adjust the line by clicking a revised point at either end of the visible line. The end of the
line to be modified is determined at about the half way point along the line. Thus, modifying
an existing line is simple so that placement can be accurate. The position of a line is fixed
only when you press the Apply button on the main doping control screen.

Figure 3-3 Impurity Panel

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3.4.2 Defining an Impurity Source Box

You can define a doping distribution about a box drawn on the device. The box source can be
vertical or horizontal to the main axis. To define a doping source box, select
ImpuritiesAdd. The Impurity Panel will appear in the area to the right of the base window
(see Figure 3-3). The control screen to the right changes at this point. Set Draw Mode switch
to Box. A box source implies a constant doping concentration within the box and the
concentration can roll off in magnitude in any perpendicular direction to the box. To define
the box on the screen by holding down the left mouse button at a box corner and dragging the
cursor over the screen. Once drawn, you can adjust the box by moving the top right and the
bottom left corners of a box. You can move a corner by holding down the left hand mouse
button at the corner to be moved while dragging the mouse. Thus, modifying an existing box
is simple so that placement can be accurate. You can place a box by defining the coordinate
points of the boxes sides. You can define these fields by filling in the Start X, Start Y, End
X, and End Y text field entries. This feature is often useful for more exact placement. The
position of a box is only fixed when you click the Apply button on the main doping control
screen.

3.4.3 Doping Source Attributes

You can define doping to roll off in perpendicular directions to the source boundary (either a
line or a box). These attributes are simple analytical expressions that have traditionally been
used in the description of semiconductor devices. These functions can be listed as follows:
Gaussian
• Error Function
• Linear
• Logarithmic
• Exponential Constant
• Step function
Each of the functions refer to the way the doping distribution decays with distance from the
edge of the doping source (box or line).

3.4.4 Deleting Source Objects

You can delete a doping source object by selecting the object from the list on the top level
menu and selecting ImpuritiesDelete. A selected object is surrounded by a red line on the
screen.

3.4.5 3D Doping
You can define three dimensional doping objects in the case of a 3D structure. To do this, set
DEVEDIT in 3D mode by entering:
DevEdit3d &
Specify X, Y and Z parameters in the case of a 3D doping objects being added to the
structure. As in the 2D case, this action is controlled from the Add Impurities control panel
as shown in Figure 3-5.

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MESHBUILD MESHING Editing Functions

3.5 MESHBUILD MESHING

To mesh a structure, select MeshMeshBuild. The MeshBuild code originated from ETH
Zurich and has been enhanced for use inside the DEVEDIT environment. Meshbuild starts
with a mesh adapted to the defined boundary. Efficient meshes require that the boundary is
conditioned before meshing. This means the boundaries are altered slightly to accommodate
the meshing algorithm. Meshbuild allows the selection of arbitrary boxes in space for either
manual mesh refinement or manual mesh relaxation. Meshbuild can be passed a solution
quantity on the mesh (i.e., boron concentration), whereby it automatically refines the mesh
based upon the gradient of the quantity. You can mesh a structure by selecting
MeshMeshbuild.

Note: Boundary conditioning is strongly advised just before meshing any structure, although it is not essential.

During the mesh routine, an ETH (Zurich) Meshbuild Acknowledgment screen appears. You
can cancel meshing at any time by pressing the Cancel button.

3.5.1 Boundary Conditioning

To use Boundary conditioning menu option, select MeshMesh Parameters. The
Boundary Conditioning control panel will then appear (see Figure 3-4).
Use boundary conditioning before creating any mesh. If you modify a structure, condition the
boundaries before remaking the mesh.

Figure 3-4 Boundary Conditioning Panel

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3.5.2 Limitations
A few basic limitations of Meshbuild should be realized before starting to use the mesh
generator. Meshbuild creates a mesh with few obtuse triangles. This improves convergence
during subsequent solutions. In order to maintain this criteria, Meshbuild adds a large
number of triangles in or around border points. For this reason, try to minimize the number of
border points. You can make slight modifications to the structure to minimize the number of
boundary points. This concept is called Boundary Conditioning (see Section 3.5.1 “Boundary
Conditioning”). Selecting MeshRefinement Limits sets up the Boundary Conditioning
Control panel (see Figure 3-4). Here, you can make a number of approximations to improve
the meshability of the structure. Most structures can be conditioned by clicking on the Apply
button. This should be the first option. Boundary Conditioning attempts to get rid of points
that are not critical.
Boundary Conditioning falls under the following categories:
• Any points on a straight line not contributing to the geometry of the structure are
eliminated.
• A geometrical rounding error can be supplied with a default limit of 0.001 micron. Be
careful of this critical layer thicknesses when using this option (i.e., gate oxides). This
option is controlled with the rounding unit text field on the boundary conditioning
control screen.
• A line straightening algorithm is available. The option straightens a line if it bends by
only a small amount defined as an angle in the line straightening text field.
• Meshbuild essentially refines a basic, coarse, tensor product mesh. You can control the
spacing of this base mesh. To do this, use the two options for the X and the Y directions
available on the Boundary Conditioning Control Panel.

3.5.3 Mesh Constraints

Mesh constraints allow you to require specifications be met in the mesh. While mesh
parameters are guidelines for the meshing algorithm, mesh constraints are requirements that
must be met (see Maximum Mesh Angle for exception). There are two major parts in
defining mesh constraints. The effected area and the constraints being opposed on that area.
The types of effected areas are described in the next few paragraphs and the types of
constraints that can be applied.
Constraint areas are either region based or rectangle based. Region based constraint areas are
set up in a hierarchy where the most specific constraint area overrides the less specific areas
that apply. Rectangle areas, as you may have guessed, are rectangles. They are specified by
absolute coordinate or in relationship to regions (as under metal regions). When two
rectangles overlap, the constraint applied to the overlapping area is the most restrictive
constraint. When region constrains and rectangle constraints overlap, the most restrictive
constraint is also used.
In region based constraints, each region has its own set of mesh constraints. If a specific
constraint is not set for a region, the value from the mesh constraint specified for that region’s
material type is used. If it is not set, the value from the All Regions mesh constraint is used.
This allows setting constraints for all regions, a specific material type or a specific region.

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The scope list allows you to specify the set of mesh constraints. You must turn on the check
box to the left of each value if the value is to be changed. For All Regions, the check boxes
are always set because those values are the default values for all other scopes. For material
type scopes (e.g., Semiconductor Regions, Insulator Regions, and Metal Regions), turning
on the check box sets the default value for regions made of that material type, overriding the
All Regions value for those regions. If you set the check box for a particular region, the value
to the right of the check box applies only to that region.

Note: When you turn off the check box, the value displayed is the current default value for the current score.

Finally, we get to the constraints that can be imposed.

[Link] - Maximum angle of a triangle in the specified region or scope. In certain cases,
limitations in the mesh build algorithm require a few triangles to be obtuse, regardless of the
setting of the maximum angle. This keeps mesh build from creating an infinite number of
triangles. Work is currently ongoing at SILVACO to resolve this restriction. If the angle is less
than 180°, the maximum connectivity of a node is 12.
[Link] - Maximum ratio of a triangle’s height and width.
[Link] - Maximum height of a triangle.
[Link] - Maximum width of a triangle.
[Link] - Triangles with height less than this value are not refined in the Y direction
during impurity refinement. Some triangles may be shorter than this value to allow for
geometry
[Link] - Triangles with width less than this value are not refined in the X direction during
impurity refinement. Some triangles may be narrower than this value to allow for geometry.

3.5.4 Adaptive Meshing

Adaptive meshing is an efficient way of adding grid points in areas of interest semi-
automatically without having to add too many points. The purpose is to search for steep
gradients over a solution and to add grid points locally to these regions. A mesh can be
adapted after creating a basic boundary compliant mesh. A mesh can be adapted to the
gradient of any impurity quantity on the mesh. To generate an adapted mesh, select
MeshImpuritiesRefine.

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3.5.5 Refinement
Refinement on impurity concentration gradient control shows the control screen for impurity
defined mesh refinement. The Minimum Mesh Spacing control refers to the minimum size
of a mesh element after adapting. A mesh is not be refined down below this entered value
even in the case of large concentration gradients. You can select available impurities from the
Add Menu option. All impurities present in the current structure are available to mesh with
(e.g., in the case of a SPISCES2 solution) a large number of impurities, such as Electron
Temp, doping conc, and potential. You can select any number of impurities from this menu
for addition to the scrolling list of impurities.
Refinement on impurity concentration gradient control show three impurities: boron, arsenic
and phosphorus. The concentration gradients of these selected impurities is used to adapt the
mesh. Each impurity has its selected weight (e.g., boron = 0.85). Each selected impurity can
be weighted by selecting the impurity on the scrolling list and sliding the weighting factor
slider to the required weight. The smaller the number, the finer the grid. The weighting factor
refers to the natural log increase of a quantity that is accepted without halving the mesh
spacing. For example, if the weight for phosphorus was set to 3, the grid would only half its
size when the concentration was found to be more than (exp 3) = 20.03 X difference between
two adjacent points. By default, the weight is 1, so each time a value is multiplied by 2.72
across two grid points, it is earmarked for adapting.
To delete selected impurities from this list, click on the listed impurity and press the Delete
button. Impurities have to be present in the structure before refinement can take place. Once
you setup the weights, click on the Apply button. To start the meshing procedure, select
MeshMeshbuild.
Boundary conditioning is advised before any meshing procedure (see Section 3.5.1
“Boundary Conditioning”). You can apply boundary conditioning either before or after
setting up the adaptive meshing settings.

3.5.6 Manually Refining The Mesh

You can refine any mesh by selecting the menu options. You can refine a selection box in both
directions. Alternatively, you can restrict refinement to either the X or Y direction by
selecting either of these options: MeshRefine BoxRefine X or MeshRefine
BoxRefine Y. To specify a selection box, hold down the left mouse button and drag over
the area to be refined. Each element in the box is reduced in size by a factor of two per
direction. You can relax the mesh inside the selection box in a similar way by selecting the
Unrefine menu option. Meshbuild may also affect the mesh outside of the defined box.

3.5.7 Manually Relaxing A Mesh

You can either relax refinement of a mesh manually or adaptively on an impurity gradient. A
mesh that was generated purely from a set of boundary points cannot be relaxed. To relax a
mesh, select MeshRefine BoxUnrefine. Define a box by dragging the mouse over an
area with the left mouse button held down. The mesh is refined in the area of the box.
Meshbuild may also affect the mesh outside of the defined box. The unrefine attempts double
the size of each element inside the defined bounding box.

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3.5.8 Tensor Product Mesh

A tensor product mesh is one that runs from top to bottom and from left to right at every point
on the mesh. It is highly inefficient but produces straightforward matrix conditioning. After a
structure has been defined, it can be meshed using a tensor product algorithm.
DEVEDIT supports a modified tensor product mesh using the following algorithm. All
boundary points are used to create a true tensor product mesh. But since there can be new
points created during that process, the MeshBuild algorithm is used to resolve these new
points. This also allows you to refine the resulting mesh using the Refine Box commands. To
create a modified tensor product mesh, select MeshTensor Product.

3.5.9 Work Area Resizing

To resize the work area, select RegionsResize Work Area. You can then add new
coordinates to the Resize work area control panel. Click on Apply when done.

3.5.10 Defining 3D Structures

You can specify a prismatic based 3D solid in terms of a number of 2D planes. This is the
approach DEVEDIT uses. A super set of all regions are defined, covering all potential Z-
planes. Then, individual regions are assigned a start and end Z-plane. For example, imagine a
MOSFET conducting into the plane of the screen. A poly gate runs from left to right across
the screen. Field isolation regions also appear on the left and right hand side of the screen.
You need to specify the values of the poly region in the Z direction. These two values, start
and stop, define the gate length. Similarly, you can define all contact metal regions with a
start and stop value in the Z direction. As a region is defined, the Start Z and Stop Z fields
should be specified. These values indicate the depth, into the screen, that the region
boundaries apply. Therefore, you can define a 3D structure from a single elevation.

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CREATING A NEW MESH Editing Functions

3.6 CREATING A NEW MESH

3.6.1 Setting The Mesh Controls
To create a mesh, the first step is to set the meshing controls. This is accomplished by setting
the Meshing Parameters. To do this, select MeshMesh Parameters. A new control panel
will appear on the right side of the DEVEDIT base window.

3.6.2 Base Mesh Parameters

Base Mesh Parameters are a guideline to create a mesh that fit the structure. Set the width
and height to 0.2 Microns. Boundary Conditioning controls simplification of the input
structure. When the structure first reads in, all the original boundary points appear as red dots.
Boundary conditioning moves these points slightly or eliminates them if the points are
unneccessary. At this point, click on Apply. It may be noticed that some of the red dots have
disappeared. Next, set the refinement parameters and select MeshRefinement Impurities.
This panel controls areas have a finer mesh than the others based on the value of the impurity.

Note: Refining on impurities only takes place in the Semiconductor region.

3.6.3 Refining On Impurities

To cause refining for all doping, especially at impurity junctions, select AddNet Doping.
Next, to cause a reasonable number of triangles in the channel under the gate, select
AddBoron. To make more triangles, set the sensitivity of boron to 0.2 on the lower part of
the Refinement Impurities panel. The lower the number, the more triangles that are
generated.

3.6.4 Mesh Constraints

The final operation is to set the mesh constraints. To do this, select MeshMesh
Constraints. In this example, it is assumed that obtuse triangles are acceptable in all regions
except in the semiconductor. First, select the All Regions and set the Max. Angle to 180
either using the slider or entering in the value. This causes generation of far fewer triangles
and points. But since most simulators give poor results, or no results at all, if there are obtuse
triangles in the semiconductor, the semiconductor regions need to have a stronger restriction.
Select Semiconductor Regions and observe that the Max. Angle reads 180.0. To override
the All Regions setting, select the check box to the left of Max. Angle and set it to 90.0. You
can overide this value in a specific semiconductor region by selecting that region and setting
its values.

3.6.5 Final Meshing

At this point DEVEDIT is ready to mesh, click on Done. To mesh, select MeshMeshbuild.
Since MeshBuild is the default action on the Mesh menu, you can also select it by simply
clicking on Mesh. DEVEDIT now produces a mesh. A Cancel button will appear during
meshing if you supply an unreasonable meshing parameter (e.g., too many triangles are being
produced).

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3.6.6 Saving the SILVACO Standard Structure File

To save this file, select FileSave as.... Then, specify a name to save the file (such as
[Link]) and click on the SILVACO Standard Structure File button. Then, click on Save
File to produce a file readable by all SILVACO 2D Simulators.

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3.7 IMPURITIES
3.7.1 Viewing Impurities
Currently, you can view only net doping. To view net doping, pull down the Show Net
Doping menu on the base window. This menu controls pixel resolution of the displayed net
doping contours. To display the net doping legend, pull down the Net Doping Legend menu
and select a location to place the legend. Doping at 1e+10 level is considered to be
approximately zero for graphing purposes.

3.7.2 Impurity Definition

Impurities can be read in when a structure file is loaded, or defined using a source line or box
and rolloff function or profile. A structure file is a 2D or 3D impurity profile that is used to
extrapolate on to the final mesh (these do not show up in the User Impurities panel list).
You can easliy add a new impurity distribution by performing the following steps:
1. Enter the add impurity mode.
2. Define a impurity source area.
3. Define the rolloff directions.
4. Define the rolloff functions.
5. Define a join function.

3.7.3 Impurities Loaded From A Structure

When a structure file is loaded, the complete mesh is temporarily saved. When the device is
saved as a structure file, each new mesh point’s value is found by extrapolating the value
based on the mesh point’s material and the values from the closest triangle or prism in the
original mesh. These values are added to any user-created impurities to create the final
impurity profile.

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3.7.4 Add Impurity Mode

To add an impurity distribution, select ImpuritiesAdd Impurity... (that is the default
action for Impurities). The Add Impurity panel will then appear (see Figure 3-5).

Figure 3-5 Add Impurity Panel

Note: You cannot select Add Impurity until you finish modifying an impurity. If you add an impurity, the Add Impurity
panel will be displayed in its current state.

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3.7.5 Defining An Impurity Source Area

The impurity source area is the area in which the impurity is set to a Peak Concentration.
The area can be a box, a rectangle, a vertical line, a horizontal line, or point. For this area,
there are 4 possible (or 6 in 3D mode) rolloff directions as follows:
• above the area (-Y)
• below (+Y)
• left (-X)
• right (+X)
• front (-Z) for 3D
• back (+Z) for 3D
These are fully described in Section 3.7.6 “Defining Impurity Roll-off Direction”.
To define the impurity source area, draw a rectangle on the existing device. To place the first
corner, press and release the left mouse button over the desired location. Now move the
mouse to the opposite corner, press and release the left mouse button again. To change the
shape, move the mouse to the corner you wish to move, then press and hold the left mouse
button. Move the pointer to the new position and release the button. Observe that the corner is
placed. Changing Draw Mode to Line forces the drawing to be either a horizontal or vertical
line.
You can alternatively set the locations manually by entering values into the fields Start X,
End X, Start Y, and End Y. In 3D mode, you must enter the Start Z, and End Z fields. This
feature is also useful for more exact placement.

3.7.6 Defining Impurity Roll-off Direction

After defining an impurity source area, you must define how the impurity decreases as the
distance from the source area increases along each axis. The first step in this procedure is to
select the appropriate icon desired. If the impurity source area is a rectangle or a vertical line,
the Y Rolloff icon choices are as seen in Figure 3-6a. This is the case if the Start Y value is
less than the End Y value. In this case, the detailed description for each icon can be found by
locating the icon in column 1 of Figures 3-6a through 3-6b.
If the impurity source area is a horizontal line or a point, the Y Rolloff icon choices are as
seen in Figure 3-7. This is the case if the Start Y value equals the End Y value. In this case,
the detailed description for each icon can be found by locating the icon in column 2 of Figures
3-6a through 3-6b.

Figure 3-6a: Rolloff Icon Figure 3-6b: Rolloff Icon

Start Y  End Y Start Y  End Y

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If the impurity source area is a rectangle or a horizontal line, X Rolloff icon choices are as
seen in Figure 3-7a. This is the case if the Start X value is less than the End X value. In this
case, the detailed description for each icon can be found by locating the icon in column 3 of
Figures 3-7a through 3-7b.
If the impurity source area is vertical line or a point, the X Rolloff icon choices are shown in
Figure 3-7a. This is the case if the Start X value equals the End X value.

Figure 3-7a: Rolloff Icon Figure 3-7b: Rolloff Icon

Start X  End X Start X  End X

Alternatively, the source area can radiate out of a circle. This is mainly used in 3D mode.

Figure 3-8 Circular

Rolloff=Both
Rolloff=Both (Figure 3-9) causes the same rolloff function to be used in both the negative
and positive directions away from the impurity source area. While each axis has its own roll
off function, to create different rolloffs in the negative and positive directions on the same
axis, see Section 3.8.8 “Combining Impurity Rolloffs”.

Figure 3-9 Rolloff=Both

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Rolloff=High
Rolloff=High (Figure 3-10) causes the rolloff function to be used in the positive direction
from the impurity source area. In the negative direction, the impurity value drops to (steps
down to) zero if the distance is greater than zero.

Figure 3-10 Rolloff=High

Rolloff=[Link]
Rolloff=[Link] (or [Link]) (Figure 3-11) causes the rolloff function to
be used in the positive direction from the impurity source area. In the negative direction, the
impurity value drops to (steps down to) zero if the distance is greater or equal to zero. This
causes the negative edge of the impurity source area to have a zero value. As you can see, if
the start value along the axis equals the end value, the entire impurity source area will have a
zero value.

Figure 3-11 Rolloff=[Link]

Rolloff=Low
Rolloff=Low (Figure 3-12) causes the rolloff function to be used in the negative direction
from the impurity source area. In the positive direction, the impurity value drops to (steps
down to) zero if the distance is greater than zero.

Figure 3-12 Rolloff=Low

Rolloff=Step
Rolloff=Step (Figure 3-13) causes no rolloff function to be used. The impurity source area
contains the peak value, which immediately steps down to zero away from the impurity
source area in the given direction.

Figure 3-13 Rolloff=Step

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Rolloff=[Link]
Rolloff=[Link] (or [Link]) (Figure 3-14) causes no rolloff function to be
used. The impurity source area contains the peak value except along the negative edge, which
is zero. All areas outside the impurity source area also get zero values. As you can see in
columns 2 and 4 of Figure 3-16, this is completely useless if Start X/Y equals End X/Y.

Figure 3-14 Rolloff=[Link]

Rolloff=[Link]
Rolloff=[Link] (or [Link]) (Figure 3-15) causes the rolloff function to be
used in the negative direction from the impurity source area. In the positive direction, the
impurity value drops to (steps down to) zero if the distance is greater or equal to zero. This
causes the positive edge of the impurity source area to have a zero value.

Figure 3-15 Rolloff=[Link]

Rolloff=[Link]
Rolloff=[Link] (or [Link]) causes no rolloff function to be used. The
impurity source area contains the peak value except along the positive edge, which is zero.
All areas outside the impurity source area also get zero values. As you can see in columns 2
and 4 of Figure 3-16, this is completely useless if Start X/Y equals End X/Y.

Figure 3-16 Rolloff=[Link]

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Rolloff=[Link]
Rolloff=[Link] (or [Link]) causes no rolloff function to be used. The impurity
source area contains the peak value except along the edges, which are zero. All areas outside
the impurity source area also get zero values. As you can see in columns 2 and 4 of Figure 3-
17, this is completely useless if Start X/Y equals End X/Y.

Figure 3-17 Rolloff=[Link]

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3.8 ROLL-OFF FUNCTION

The Roll-off function calculates the vertical and the horizontal rolloffs separately and then
uses a join function to connect the 1D rolloffs. In DEVEDIT3D, there is also a width distance
rolloff. There are three types of 1D rolloff functions: analytic, analytic distance, and profiled.
There are also three types of join functions: multiply, interpolate, and miter. When selecting a
1D rolloff function, the first column of choices are the analytic functions described below.
The next column lists any added doping profiles. These are described just after the analytic
functions. Therefore, the overall roll-off function is made by joining either 2 or 3 1D roll-off
functions and a join function.

3.8.1 Analytic Functions

Analytic functions are used to describe the rolloff curve from the impurity source area. The
function is given a distance (distance) to the points of interest and a user supplied constant.
Analytic functions return p=func(d, K) where p is between 1 (Peak value) and 0.
User Supplied Variables
You supply:
• Constant: K
Location Dependent Variables
• d = Distance from Base depending on joint function used.
• p = The result of the function, which is doping as the proportion of the Peak value.
Gaussian p=func(d,K)

 –d2 
p = exp  ----------- 3-1
 2K 2

Error Function p=func(d,K)

 2 3
d d d 
p = exp  – 1.02 ---- – 0.79276 -------- – 0.019345 -------- 3-2
 K 2 3
K K 

Logarithmic p=func(d,K)

1.0
p = ------------------------------------------------- 3-3
1.0 + ln  dK + 1.0 

Exponential p=func(d,K)
p = exp  – d k  3-4

Constant
p = 1.0 3-5

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Step Function
Depreciated Option: Use either constant rolloff or rolloff icons instead of the step function.
This option will be removed in future releases.

3.8.2 Analytic Functions (Dist)

Analytic functions are used to describe the rolloff curve from the impurity source area. The
function is given a distance (distance) to the points of interest. You also supply a peak
concentration, a reference concentration, and the distance between the two. Analytic
functions return p=func(d, P, R, D) where p is between 1 (Peak value) and 0. Therefore, p  P
equals the value at distance d.
User Supplied Variables
You supply the following to derive k in the distance functions (Dist).
• Peak Concentration: P
• Reference Value: R
• Distance: D
Location Dependent Variables
• d = Distance from Base depending on joint function used.
• p = The result of the function, which is doping as the proportion of the Peak value.
Gaussian (Dist) p=func(d, P, R, D)

D R  – D 2
k = --------------------------- derived from ---- = exp  ----------- 3-6
P  2k 2 
– 2 ln  ----
R
 p

 – d 2
p = exp  ---------- 3-7
 2k 2 

Error Function (Dist) p=func(d,P,R,D)

 2 3
D D D 
First solves for k: R
---- = exp  – 1.02 ---- – 0.79276 -------- – 0.019345 -------- 3-8
 k 2 3
k 
P
k

 2 3
d d d 
p = exp  – 1.02 --- – 0.79276 ------- – 0.019345 ------- 3-9
 k 2 3
k k 

Linear (Dist) p=func(d,P,R,D)

R
1.0 – ----
P
k = ------------------- 3-10
D

p = 1.0 – dk 3-11

Note: If p < 0, then p = 0.

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Logarithmic (Dist) p=func(d,P,R,D)

k = ---- exp  ---- – 1.0 – 1.0

1 P
3-12
D R 

1.0
p = ------------------------------------------------ 3-13
1.0 + ln  dk + 1.0 

Exponential (Dist) p=func(d,P,R,D)

k = ---- ln  ----
1 P
3-14
D  R

p = exp  – d k  3-15

3.8.3 Doping Profiles

Doping profiles are a list of distances and impurity concentrations at those distances. These
can be obtained from SSUPREM3 structure files, SSUPREM4 1D structure files, and the
SPDB doping database. By using these values and one of the four extrapolation functions,
you can add an impurity using this profile as a rolloff function instead of one of the analytical
profiles contained in DEVEDIT.
Adding a New Doping Profile
To add a new doping profile, select ImpuritiesDoping Profiles. The User Defined Doping
Profiles control panel will appear on the right side of the screen. The top list shows the
doping profiles already read into DEVEDIT. Below is the information about the selected
doping profile. The name and impurity type can be changed in this area. To read in a
SSUPREM3 structure file or a 1D ATHENA structure file, click on the Load File... button. A
popup window will appear. Select a file and load it. A popup notice will then appear asking
which impurity you wish to load from that file. Once you load the profile and give the name
NewProfile001 or NewProfile 002, or the first new name not already in use.

Note: If the impurity selected is active antimony, active arsenic, active boron, or active phosphorus,
DEVEDIT will store them as antimony, arsenic, boron, or phosphorus, respectively.

Back in the User Defined Doping Profiles command panel, this profile is added to the User
defined profiles list and becomes the selected item. Details about this profile are displayed
below the list. You can now rename the profile. Replace the name in the Profile Name field
with the desired name. Be careful not to accidentally use a name that already exists in the list.
You can now click on Done to remove the User Defined Doping Profiles command panel.
This doping profile has now been added to the possible rolloff functions in the Add Impurity
panel and the Modify Impurity panel.
If you select a user-defined profile as the rolloff function in the Add Impurity panel or the
Modify Impurity panel, the peak value of that impurity distribution will be set to the value of
the doping profile at distance equal zero. The impurity will also be set to match the profile.
Both fields are grayed out as long as a doping profile is being used as a rolloff function. While
different doping profiles can be used in the X and Y directions, they must be compatible. In
other words, have the same value at distance equals zero and be the same impurity type.

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3.8.4 Join Function 2D

There are currently three join functions. First, the multiple join works by computing the Y
rolloff and applying the X rolloff. This effectively is a multiply of the two rolloffs. Second,
the interpolate join works by considering an arc at equal distances between the Y rolloff and
the X rolloff though the locations and interpolating the values along the arc. Third, the miter
join takes the lower value after allowing for the X rolloff or the Y rolloff.
User Supplied Variables
• Peak Concentration: P
• Reference Value: R
• Rolloff Functions: funcx and funcy.
Either
• Constant: Kx and Ky
• Distance to Reference Value: Dx and Dy.
Multiply Join
• Peak Concentration: P
• dx = X rolloff distance = lateral distance =  x
• dy = Y rolloff distance = depth distance =  y
• px =funcx ( dx , K ) or px =funcx ( dx , P , R , Dx )
• py =funcy ( dy , K ) or py =funcy ( dy , P , R, Dy )
doping = p x p y P 3-16

Interpolate Join
2 2
d = total dis tan ce = x + y 3-17

• px =funcx ( d , K ) or px =funcx ( d , P , R , Dx )
• py =funcy ( d , K ) or py =funcy ( d , P , R , Dy )
  x2 y 
2
doping =  p x ---------
- + p y ---------- P 3-18
 d
2
d 
2

Miter Join
• dx = X rolloff distance = lateral distance =  x
• dy = Y rolloff distance = depth distance =  y
• px =funcx ( dx , K ) or px =funcx ( dx , P , R , Dx )
• py =funcy ( dy , K ) or py =funcy ( dy , P , R , Dy )
If py < px then
doping = p y P 3-19

else

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doping = p x P 3-20

To add these changes to the device, click on Apply. Click on Cancel if you do not want to add
or modify this impurity.

3.8.5 Join Function 3D

The three dimensional join functions are about the same as the two dimensional ones with an
extra term. First, the multiple join works by computing the Y rolloff, applying the X rolloff,
and finally the Z rolloff. This effectively is a multiply of the two rolloffs. Second, the
interpolate join works by considering an arc at equal distances between the rolloffs though the
locations and interpolating the values along the arc. Third, the miter join takes the lower value
after allowing for each rolloff seperately.
User Supplied Variables
• Peak Concentration: P
• Reference Value: R
• Rolloff Functions: funcx , funcy , and funcz.
Either
• Constant: Kx, Ky, and Kz
• Distance to Reference Value: Dx, Dy, and Dz.
Multiply Join
• Peak Concentration: P
• dx = X rolloff distance = lateral distance =  x
• dy = Y rolloff distance = depth distance =  y
• dz = Z rolloff distance = width distance =  z
• px =funcx ( dx , Kx ) or px =funcx ( dx , P, R, Dx )
• py =funcy ( dy , Ky ) or py =funcy ( dy , P, R, Dy )
• pz =funcz ( dz , Kz ) or pz =funcz ( dz ,P, R, Dz )
doping = p x p y p z P 3-21

Interpolate Join
2 2 2
d = total dis tan ce = x + y + z 3-22

• px =funcx ( d , Kx ) or px =funcx ( d , P , R , Dx )
• py =funcy ( d , Ky ) or py =funcy ( d , P , R , Dy )
• pz =funcz ( d , Kz ) or pz =funcz ( d , P , R , Dz )
  x2 y
2
z 
2
doping =  p x ---------- + p y ---------- + p z --------- P 3-23
 d
2
d
2
d 
2

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Miter Join
• Peak Concentration: P
• dx = X rolloff distance = lateral distance =  x
• dy = Y rolloff distance = depth distance =  y
• dz = Z rolloff distance = width distance =  z
• px =funcx ( dx , Kx ) or px =funcx ( dx , P , R , Dx )
• py =funcy ( dy , Ky ) or py =funcy ( dy , P , R , Dy )
• pz =funcz ( dz , Kz ) or pz =funcz ( dz , P, R , Dz )
If px < py and px < pz then
doping = p x P 3-24

else if py < pz then

doping = p y P 3-25

else
doping = p z P 3-26

To add these changes to the device, click on Apply. Click on Cancel if you do not want to add
or modify this impurity.

3.8.6 Deleting Impurities

To delete an analytic impurity, select an impurity in the User Defined Impurity list on the
main panel. Then, select ImpuritiesDelete.

3.8.7 Editing Impurities

To edit an analytic impurity, select an impurity in the User Defined Impurity list on the main
panel. Then, select ImpuritiesModify. The same panel used for adding an impurity will
appear with all the filled in values. You can now edit these values.

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3.8.8 Combining Impurity Rolloffs

In the special case where the rolloff in one direction along an axis is different from the rolloff
in the other direction along the same axis, two impurity specifications must be combined to
produce one impurity profile. Special care must be taken when defining these impurity
definitions to prevent singularities in the seam between the two impurity definitions. This
could cause the impurity to be zero or twice the “Peak concentration” at the seam.
The following is an example of combining two impurity definitions to simulate the surface
effect of a doping implant:
1. Enter DEVEDIT and set the work area to 0,-0.25 and 2,2.
2. Create two regions. The first region is silicon with corners at 0,0 2,0, 2,2, and 0.2, and a
base of boron of le+16 /cm3. See Section 3.2.1 “Adding a Region” for details. The second
region is aluminum with corners at 0,0, 1,0, 1,-0.2.
3. Create an impurity distribution to describe the rolloff in the down direction and the lower
half in the desired profile.
4. Click on the Impurities button at the top of the screen (see Figure 3-18) and set the
following parameters:
• Impurity: Arsenic
• Start X: 0
• Start Y: 0.2
• End X: 1
• End Y: 0.2
• Peak Concentration: le+20
• Reference Value: le+16 (base impurity value of silicon)
• Rolloff = High Y Rolloff: Gaussian (Dist)
• Distance: 1 (distance to junction)
• Rolloff = Both X Rolloff: Error Function
• Constant: 0.1
5. Press Apply.

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Figure 3-18 Downward Impurity Rolloff

6. To add the other half, click on the Impurities button (see Figure 3-19) and set the
following parameters:
• Impurity: Arsenic
• Start X: 0
• Start Y: 0.2
• End X: 1
• End Y: 0.2
• Peak Concentration: le+20
• Reference Value: le+16 (impurity value at surface of silicon)
• Rolloff = High Y Rolloff: Gaussian (dist)
• Distance: 1 (distance to junction)
• Rolloff = Both X Rolloff: Error Function
• Constant: 0.1
7. Press Apply.

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Figure 3-19 Upward Impurity Rolloff

Now, you can create a mesh and save the file as a SILVACO Standard Structure File named
[Link] (perform the steps in Sections 2.2.4 “Mesh Creation” and 2.2.5 “Saving The
File”). Figure 3-20 shows the net doping contours on the created device using TONYPLOT. A
cut line is made in the vertical direction as shown in Figure 3-21.

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Figure 3-20 Net Doping Contour on Created Device using TonyPlot

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Figure 3-21 Cutline Made in the Vertical Direction

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 Chapter 4
Statements
Overview Statements

4.1 Overview
This chapter contains a complete description (in alphabetical order) of every statement and
parameter used by any of the DEVEDIT products. The following documentation is provided
for each statement:
• The statement name
• The syntax of the statement
• A list of all of the parameters of the statement and their type
• A description of each parameter or group of similar parameters
• An example of the correct usage of each statement

4.1.1 Cards And Parameters

Card Syntax

Parameter Description

PARAM Required parameter

[PARAM] Optional parameter
<N> Integer or floating point number
<C> User defined string can be quoted by ‘or’
<BOOLEAN> The boolean strings can be true, false, yes, no, on or off. In the case
param, param can be used for param=true and !param or
^param can be used for param=false.

<POINT2D> A 2D point (e.g., 0.5,3.0) note. Points are in Microns.

<POINT2D_LIST> A list of 2D points (e.g.,. “0,0 1,0 1,1 0,1 0,0”) quotes must be used
if more than one point is in list.
{PARAM1 PARAM2} Parameters are associated with each other.
PARAM1 | PARAM2 Supply either param1 or param2 but not both.
PARAM1 || PARAM2 Supply param1 or param2 or both.
PARAM... param repeated one or more times

[PARAM]... param repeated zero or more times

Examples
In the following example, param1 or param3 must be supplied. If, and only if, param1 is
supplied an optional param2 can be supplied. In any case, at least one param4 must be
supplied:
card {param1=<n> [param2=<c>]} | param3 param4=<n>...

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Line Continuation
Cards can be continued across multiple lines by ending the line with a backslash (\). In this
case, the next line is considered part of the same line.

Note: When loading a command file, lines can also be continued by starting the next line with a plus sign (+). This
function has been depreciated and is only supplied for backwards compatibility and can be removed in
future versions.

Comments
Comments can be placed at the end of any card or on lines by themselves. Comments start
with a number sign (#) and end at the end of the line, regardless whether the line ends with a
backslash (\).

Note: Depreciated function: lines starting with $ are also considered comments. This is for backwards
compatibility and can be removed in future releases.

Parameter Section
In the parameter section for each card, each paragraph starts with a parameter’s full name and
value type. Following this, there can be a list of alternate parameter names. This list is
contained in parenthesis. You can use any length abbreviation for a card or parameter as long
as it uniquely identifies the card or parameter. A reasonable length, however, should be used
to keep names from becoming ambiguous when a newer version is installed.

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4.2 [Link]
Starting point when generating a new mesh.
Syntax
[Link] [HEIGHT=<N>] [WIDTH=<N>]
Description
When a mesh is created with the mesh card and the mode is [Link], MeshBuild creates
a base tensor product mesh and refines the geometry, impurities, and mesh constraints. The
base mesh may not be regular to allow for the geometry of the device. The original default for
width and height is 100000 microns, which means the structure will have 4, 6 or 9 squares in
the base mesh, regardless the device size.
Parameters
HEIGHT=<n> (h,y): Maximum height (y) of each rectangle in the base mesh in microns.
WIDTH=<n> (w,x): Maximum width (x) of each rectangle in the base mesh in microns.
Replaces Card
BaseMesh [Height=<n>] [Width=<n>]
See Also
MESH, [Link]

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4.3 [Link]
Reduces the number of boundary points.
Preferred Abbreviation
[Link] or [Link]
Syntax
[Link][[WHEN=]<C>][[WHEN=]NEVER|ONCE|AUTOMATIC] \
[[Link]=<N>][[Link]=<N>][[Link]=<N>] \
[[Link]=<N>][[Link][=<BOOLEAN>]]

Description
Set or apply boundary conditions to limit complexity of borders between region. This may
help limit the number of triangles creating during mesh creation. This may destroy the
existing mesh.
Parameters
[WHEN=] never|once|automatic (default=automatic): Specifies when boundary
conditions will be performed.
Never: Turns off boundary conditioning.
Once: Performs boundary conditioning now (when card is read).
Automatic: Performs current conditioning and before each mesh command.
[Link]=<n> ([Link]): The maximum ratio of the vertical height to the
horizontal width of each boundary segments. If the ratio is greater than this, it is broken into
two line segments; one vertical or horizontal and one with this limit.

Note: Vertical and horizontal lines are considered to have a zero ratio, not an infinite one. Therefore, only lines
close to being horizontal and vertical lines are affected. This is used to limit the number of triangles
[Link] creates. This number must always be less than the maximum triangle ratio ([Link]).

[Link]=<n>] ([Link]: The maximum ratio of a triangles height to its

width.
[Link]=<n> ([Link], RND): All boundary points are rounded to an even
multiple of this unit.

Note: Points created by [Link] are not rounded to this unit but will be strongly affected by the initial
boundary point locations.

[Link]=<n> ([Link]): If two boundary segments have a joining

angle of greater than or equal to 180° [Link], the two line segments are
combined by removing the joining point.
[Link][=<BOOLEAN>]: If a boundary point joins two almost horizontal lines,
you can move the point slightly in the horizontal direction to align it with other points. This is
also true in the vertical direction.

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Replaces Card
BoundaryConditioning [AutoConditioning=<c>] [MaxSlope=<n>] \
[MaxRatio=<n>] [RoundingUnit=<n>] [LineStraightening=<n>] \
[AlignPoints[=<boolean>]] [NoSet] [NoApply]
See Also
MESH, [Link]

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4.4 [Link]
Sets limits (constraints) on triangles created during mesh and refine operations.
Preferred Abbreviation
[Link]
Syntax
[Link] [GLOBAL] [[Link]=<N>] [[Link]=<C>] \
[MATERIAL=<C>] [[Link]=<C>] [x1=<N> y1=<N> x2=<N> y2=<N>] \
[[Link]=<C> | [Link]=<C> | [Link] DEPTH=<N>] \
[DEFAULT] [[Link][=<N>]] \
[[Link][=<N>]] [[Link][=<N>]] \
[[Link][=<N>]] [[Link][=<N>]] \
[[Link][=<N>]] [[Link][=<N>]]

Description
Mesh constraints are used to determine the size and shapes of triangles during the meshing
phase. Weaker constraints create a less dense mesh and may be used to improve execution
time in subsequent process/device simulations. The constraints are arranged in a hierarchy:
global constraints, material type constraints, and region specific constraints. To determine the
active constraint in a region, DEVEDIT starts with the global value. You can override this
value by a material type constraint, which you can then override by a region specific
constraint.
When DEVEDIT is started, all material type constraints default to the global constraints. The
global constraints have predetermined default values. As new regions are added, the regions
initially default to the material type constraint associated with the regions material. Once you
set a value, you can restore it to default to the more general level by using a parameter with no
value. For example, [Link]=100 can later be cleared by using [Link]. All values for
the current constraint(s) can be cleared by using the DEFAULT parameter (see Figure 4-1).
In addition to this constraint hierarchy, there may be rectangular based constraints. These
areas can be specified with use absolute coordinates using x1, y1, x2, and y2. The rectangular
area can also be implied in a semiconductor area by using [Link],
[Link], or [Link], and setting depth.

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Figure 4-1 Constraint Hierarchy

Parameters
GLOBAL sets global constraints. The global constraints is also if region and material type
are NOT used.
[Link]=<n> (REG) specifies which region (by region id number) these constraints
apply to. Several region parameters can be set at the same time.
[Link]=<c> (REG) specifies which region (by name) these constraints apply to.
Several region parameters can be set at the same time.
[Link]=<c> ([Link], TYPE) specifies what material types these
constraints apply to. These values can be: Semiconductor, Metal, Insulator, and Other.
x1=<N> y1=<N> x2=<N> y2=<N> are the four corners of a rectangular area to which the
following constrains will apply.
[Link]=<C>>: In the semiconductor region under this region, a rectangle is
defined from the surface to the depth specified using the depth parameter. If the region is
disjointed, multiple rectangles can be formed.
[Link]=<C>: In the semiconductor region under regions of this material, a
rectangle is defined from the surface to the depth specified using the depth parameter. If
multiple regions are made of the same material, multiple rectangles can be formed. These
values can be Poly, Aluminum, and SiO2. See Section 4.29 “GENERIC PARAMETER -
MATERIAL” for a more complete list.
[Link]: This is currently the same as “[Link]=poly”. It may become more
intelligent about finding the gate in future releases.
DEPTH=<N&gt specifies how deep (in Microns) the rectangle should be from the surface of
the semiconductor region. This parameter must be used in conjunction with [Link],
[Link], or [Link].

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DEFAULT: Before setting specified values, reset all values in the specified region, material
type, or global constraints to their default values.
[Link][=<n>] ([Link]): Maximum angle a triangle can contain.
[Link] has a range between 90 and 180°. Normally points are limited by [Link] to
12 connections. If the maximum angle is set to 180, the connections limit is removed. In no
case will an angle actually be 180°.
[Link][=<n>]] ([Link]): Maximum ratio of a triangles height to its
width.
[Link][=<n>] (MAX.H): Maximum height of a triangle in microns.
[Link][=<n>] (MAX.W): Maximum width of a triangle in microns.
[Link][=<n>] (MIN.H): Triangles shorter than this are not shortened during
impurity refinement.
[Link][=<n>] (MIN.W): Triangles narrower than this are not narrowed
during impurity refinement.
EXAMPLES
# allow all regions to have slightly obtuse triangle
# (sets global constraints) [Link] [Link]=100
# allow only non-obtuse triangles in semiconductor regions
[Link] [Link]=semiconductor [Link]=90

# allow region #1 to have slightly obtuse triangle even

# if region is a semiconductor.
[Link] reg=1 [Link]=95

# now let region #1 default to it [Link] or the

# global constraints
[Link] reg=1 [Link]

# clear all currect setting in region #3 and the metal material

# type constraints and set possible triangles to very obtuse
[Link] reg=3 [Link]=metal default [Link]=180

# Make sure the triangle in the channel of a mos device

# has small enough triangle (assuming the channel is directly
# below a region named “gate”).
[Link] [Link]=gate depth=0.5 [Link]=0.1
[Link]=0.25

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# Make sure all contacts have enough connecting point for simula-
tion.
[Link] [Link]=aluminum depth=0.0001 [Link]=0.25
Replaces Card
ConstrainMesh [Region=<n> | Material=<c> | Type=<c>] \
[[!^]MaxAngle[=<n>] [[!^]MaxRatio[=<n>]] \
[[!^]MaxAdjacent[=<n>]] [[!^]MaxHeight[=<n>]] \
[[!^]MaxWidth[=<n>]] [[!^]MinHeight[=<n>]] \
[[!^]MinWidth[=<n>]]
See Also
[Link], MESH

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4.5 CUT
Cuts out a strip from the device and join the two pieces together.
Syntax
CUT {{X1=<N> X2=<N>} || {Y1=<N> Y2=<N>}} [[Link] \
[=<BOOLEAN>]]

Description
Cuts out a vertical strip between x=x1 and x=x2, or cuts out a horizontal strip between y=y1
and y=y2, or both. Points at x1/y1 will not be moved. Points at x2/y2 will be moved to x1/y1
dragging point beyond x2/y2 with them.
Parameters
X1=<n>: Start of x direction cut.
X2=<n>: End of x direction cut.
Y1=<n>: Start of y direction cut.
Y2=<n>: End of y direction cut.
[Link][=<boolean>] ([Link]): If two regions made of the same
material presently touch, the regions are joined into one region. The attributes from the region
with the lowest ID will be used for the combined region. The default value is true.

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4.6 DEPOSIT
Deposits a layer of material.
Syntax
DEPOSIT MATERIAL=<C> THICKNESS=<N> [[Link]=<N>] \
[[SIDE=]TOP|LEFT|RIGHT|BOTTOM] [START=<N>] [END=<N>] \
[[Link]=<N>] [[Link] [COLOR=<N>] [PATTERN=<N>] \
[Link][=<BOOLEAN>>]]
Description
Deposits a uniform thickness of a material on the specified side.
Parameters
[SIDE=]TOP|LEFT|RIGHT|BOTTOM: The side on which to deposit the new region. The
default is side=top.
THICKNESS=<n>: Thickness (in microns) of the deposit.
START=<n>: The start of the deposit. If side=top or side=bottom, start is an x
coordinate, otherwise it is a y coordinate. Default value is left side of structure or top of
structure respectively.
END=<n>: The end of the deposit. If side=top or side=bottom, start is an x coordinate,
otherwise it is a y coordinate. Default value is right side or bottom of structure respectively.
[Link] ([Link]): When making a corner during a deposit, this angle
is used to determine how many points are used. The angle should be between 5 and 45° and
be an even divisor of 90. The default angle is 30°.
[Link]=<n> ([Link]): The region ID number of the deposited region if the region
reg is not joined with an existing region. See [Link].
[Link]=<c> ([Link]): The region name of the deposited region if the
region reg is not joined with an existing region. See [Link].
MATERIAL=<c> specifies which material will be deposited (e.g., Silicon, Aluminum,
AlGaAr). See Section 4.29 “GENERIC PARAMETER - MATERIAL” for a more complete
description.
[Link][=<boolean>] ([Link]): If two regions made up of the same
[Link] material presently touch, the regions are joined into one region. Attributes from
region with the lowest id will be used for the combined region. The default value is true.
COLOR=<n> (COLOUR): The color used to display region during DEVEDIT in X windows
mode. This is a RGB bitmap with eight bits colper color. DEVEDIT has only a limited subset
of these colors. Therefore, the closest match is used. Some basic colors can be specified by
name, such as red, green, blue, yellow, cyan, magenta, black, and white. See Section 4.27
“GENERIC PARAMETER - COLOR” for a more complete description.
PATTERN=<n>: The Fill pattern used to display region in DEVEDIT X windows mode. See
Section 4.30 “GENERIC PARAMETER - PATTERN” for a more complete description.

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4.7 FLIP
Flips (make a mirror image of) the device.
Syntax
FLIP X=<N> || Y=<N>

Description
Flips (make a mirror image of) the device around a vertical or horizontal line or both.
Parameters
X=<n> flips device around the vertical line x=<n>.
Y=<n> flips device around the horizontal line y=<n>.
Examples
flip x=1
# point 0,0 becomes 2,0
# point 2,2 becomes 0,2
# point 4,4 becomes -2,4
flip y=0

# point 0,0 becomes 0,0

# point 2,2 becomes 2,-2
# point 4,4 becomes 4,-4
flip x=3 y=2

# point 0,0 becomes 6,4

# point 2,2 becomes 4,2
# point 4,4 becomes 2,0

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4.8 IMPURITY
Adds, replaces or deletes an impurity profile (analytic implant).
Syntax
IMPURITY {ID=<N> DELETE [[Link]=<N>]} \
| { [ID=<N>][[Link]=<N>] [IMPURITY=<c>] \
{ [[Link]=<N>] | [RESISTIVITY=<N>] } \
[[Link]=<N>] [COLOR=<N>] \
[[Link]=<C>] \
[ { { [Y1=<N> Y2=<N> ROLLOFF.Y=<C> \
[ [Link].Y=<C> \
[ COEFFICIENT.Y=<N> | 
[Link].Y=<N> ] \
[[Link].Y=<N>] ] } \
|| { X1=<N> X2=<N> ROLLOFF.X=<C> \
[ [Link].X=<C> \
[ COEFFICIENT.X=<N> | 
[Link].X=<N> ] \
[[Link].X=<N>] ] } } \
| { X=<N> Y=<N> R1=<N> ROLLOFF.R1=<C> \
[ [Link].R1=<C> \
[ COEFFICIENT.R1=<N> | 
[Link].R1=<N> ] \
[[Link].R1=<N>] ] \
[ R0=<N> ROLLOFF.R0=<C> \
[ [Link].R0=<C> \
[ COEFFICIENT.R0=<N> | 
[Link].R0=<N>] \
[[Link].R0=<N>] ] ] } \
| { BASE1=<N>,<N> BASE2=<N>,<N> \
ROLLOFF.Y=<C> \
[ [Link].Y=<C> \
[ COEFFICIENT.Y=<N> | 
[Link].Y=<N> ] \
[[Link].Y=<N>] ] \
ROLLOFF.X=<C> \
[ [Link].X=<C> \
[ COEFFICIENT.X=<N> | 
[Link].X=<N> ] \
[[Link].X=<N>] ] } } ] \
[ { Z1=<N> Z2=<N> } | Z=<N>,<N> \

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ROLLOFF.Z=<C> \
[ [Link].Z=<C> \
[ COEFFICIENT.Z=<N> | [Link].Z=<N>] \
[[Link].Z=<N>] ] ] }
Description
Implants (adds) an impurity or quantity to a device by using the impurity card. The model
used assumes that a rectangle (or a box in 3D mode) has a peak value and then rolls off from
this peak using a vertical formula (y), a horizontal formula (x), and possibly a width formula
(z). These formulae can be abruptly stopped in any of the six directions (up, down, left, right,
forward, and backward) by using the rolloff mode. The rolloff mode specifies whether a roll-
off function is used or where exactly the impurity is dropped to zero. See Section 3.7
“IMPURITIES” for a more detailed description.
Parameters (Z Parameters are only valid in 3D Mode)
ID=<n> is the identifier of which impurity “implant” should be added, replaced or deleted. If
no ID is given, the first unused ID will be added.

Note: There is a list of ID’s for all regions and a separate list for each region. In other words, there can be an
impurity #1 for all regions, an impurity #1 for region #5 and an impurity #1 for region #7, which makes up
three different impurities.

DELETE deletes the impurity “implant” identified by ID.

[Link]=<n> is the region number which uniquely identifies the region [Link] to
which region this impurity applies. If no [Link] parameter is given (the normal case), it
applies to all regions.
[Link]=<c> ([Link]) identifies the region with name <c> to which this impurity
applies. If two regions have name <c>, the region with the lowest region number will be
replaced or deleted.
[Link]=<c> ([Link]) identifies the region with name <c> to which this
impurity applies. If multiple regions have name <c>, all matched regions are changed.
IMPURITY=<c> specifies what impurity this profile is describing (e.g., Boron, Arsenic,
Potential). See Section 4.28 “GENERIC PARAMETER - IMPURITY” for a more complete
description.
[Link]=<n> is the value of impurity in the base box. When using a 1D profile, the
peak value in the profile will be linearly scaled to match this peak value.
[Link]=<n> ([Link]) is the value of impurity at the given distance.
See [Link] and [Link] for more information.
X1=<n>: Left side of base box (In microns).
X2=<n>: Right side of base box (In microns).
Y1=<n>: Top of base box (In microns).
Y2=<n>: Bottom of base box (In microns).
Z1=<n>: Front of base box (In microns).
Z2=<n>: Back of base box (In microns).

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BASE.1=<n>,<n> is the “left, top” corner of the peak impurity rectangle. This parameter is
depreciated. Use x1 and y1 instead.
BASE.2=<n>,<n> is the “right, bottom” corner of the peak impurity rectangle. This
parameter is depreciated. Use x2 and y2 instead.
[Link]=<c> describes how the x, y and z [Link]
intersect. The possible values are: multiply, interpolate, or miter.
ROLLOFF.Y=<c>, ROLLOFF.X=<c>, and ROLLOFF.Z=<c>: The possible values for
roll-off functions are:
• both
• high
• [Link] ([Link])
• low
• step
• [Link] ([Link])
• [Link] ([Link])
• [Link] ([Link])
• [Link] ([Link])
[Link].{Y|X|Z}=<c> ([Link].{Y|X|Z}: Possible values
are shown in the table below.

Warning: These values must match exactly. Do NOT abbreviate.

.
Full Name Short Name

“Gaussian” gauss

“Gaussian (Dist)” [Link]

“Error Function” erfc

“Error Function (Dist)” [Link]

“Linear (Dist)” dist

“Logarithmic” log

“Logarithmic (Dist)” [Link]

“Exponential exp

“Exponential (Dist)” [Link]

“Step Function” obsolete use rolloff=step

<1d_profile_name>

COEFFICIENT.{Y|X|Z}=<n>([Link].{Y|X|Z}): Concentration coefficient is valid

only if concentration function is NOT a 1D profile. If the concentration function is a distance
function, this is the distance (in microns) between the [Link] and the
[Link]. Otherwise, it is a function specific coefficient.

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[Link].{Y|X|Z}=<c>([Link].{Y|X|Z}): If the
concentration function is a 1D profile, then it must be one of the following approximation
functions. These functions specify the points between data points and at the end of the
specified data.

Full Name Short Name

“Log Extrapolate” [Link]

“Log Interpolate” [Link]

“Linear Extrapolate” [Link]

“Linear Interpolate” [Link]

If the concentration function is not a 1D profile, then [Link].{Y|X|Z}

is an alias for COEFFICIENT.{Y|X|Z}.
[Link].{Y|X|Z}=<n> ([Link].{Y|X|Z}):
Concentration scale factor is valid only if concentration function is a 1D profile. This allows
the rolloff to be shortened (value <1.0) or lengthened (value >1.0) using this linear scalar
factor. The default value is 1.0.
COLOR=<n>: The color used to display region during DEVEDIT in X color windows mode.
This is an RGB bitmap with eight bits colper color. DEVEDIT has only a limited subset of
these colors so the closest match is used. Some basic colors can be specified by name, such as
red, green, blue, yellow, cyan, magenta, black, and white. See Section 4.27 “GENERIC
PARAMETER - COLOR” for a more complete description.
Replaces Card
AddImpurity [ID=<n>] [Region=<n>] [Color=<n>] Base1=<point2d>
Base2=<point2d> [PeakValue=<n>] \ [ReferenceValue=<n> | Contour-
Value=<n>] \
[{Z1=<n> Z2=<n>} | Z=<n>,<n>] \ CombinationFunction=<c> \
Rolloff1=<c> ConcentrationFunction1=<c> \ Coefficient1=<n> |
CParam1=<n> [CRatio1=<n>] \ Rolloff2=<c> ConcentrationFunction2=<c>
\
Coefficient2=<n> | CParam2=<n> [CRatio2=<n>] \
Rolloff3=<c> ConcentrationFunction3=<c> \ Coefficient3=<n> |
CParam3=<n> [CRatio3=<n>]
See Also
PROFILE

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IMPURITY REFINE Statements

4.9 IMPURITY REFINE

Sets the limit on the impurity differential across triangles.
Syntax
[Link] IMPURITY=<C> [ID=<N>] SENSITIVITY=<N> \
[scale=<C>] [transition=<N>]
or
[Link] [Link]=<N>||Z=<N>
or
[Link] ID=<N> DELETE

Preferred Abbreviation
[Link]
Description
These values are used by the meshing routine to determine if triangles are small enough.
When the mesh card is run, the current sensitivity of each impurity is tested. If the impurity
difference across the triangle is greater than sensitivity, the triangle is broken into smaller
triangles.
Parameters
ID=<n< deletes or modifies an exist refinement. If no ID is supplied, the first unused ID
(starting from 1) is used.
DELETE deletes the impurity refinement identified by parameter ID.
IMPURITY=<c> specifies what quantity/impurity is being refined (e.g., Boron, Arsenic, and
Potential). See Section 4.28 “GENERIC PARAMETER - IMPURITY” for a more complete
description.
SENSITIVITY=<n>: If an impurity’s value changes more than sensitivity, smaller triangles
are created. If an impurity’s scale is logarithmic, sensitivity is in powers of ten. Impurities are
really extrapolated using arc hyperbolic sine (not using logarithms) and then normalized.
There should be no noticeable difference on values greater than 10 times the transition value
(one level of sensitivity).
SCALE=<C> specifies which scale the sensitivity should use. Different impurities
(quantities) have different default scales. See Section 4.28 “GENERIC PARAMETER -
IMPURITY” for default values.
• Linear uses linear scale.
• Logarithmic (log) is an alias for [Link].
• [Link] ([Link]) uses arc hyperbolic sine scale, which is similar to a
logarithmic scale.
TRANSITION=<N>: This value is used to modify the [Link] (log) scale.
Values below this value are considered insignificant. Different impurities (quantities) have
different default transition values. See Section 4.28 “GENERIC PARAMETER -
IMPURITY” for default values.

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[Link]=<n> ([Link]): If a triangle is narrower than this, it is not

narrowed further. If a triangle is shorter than this, it is not shortened. This parameter applies to
all impurities currently being refined, not just the impurity specified by this card.
3D Parameters
Z=<n> refines at the specified z plane
Replaces Card
ImpRefine[Type=<c> Value=<n> | Sensitivity=<n>] MinSpacing=<n>
Z=<n>
See Also
MESH

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INITIALIZE Statements

4.10 INITIALIZE
Clears existing device and load file.
Syntax
INIT INFILE=<C> [Z=<POINT2D>|{Z1=<N> Z2=<N>}] MESH[=<BOOLEAN>]
LOAD [Link]=<C> [[TYPE=]<C>] [Z=<POINT2D>|{Z1=<N> Z2=<N>}]
MESH[=<BOOLEAN>]

Parameters
[Link]=<c> (file, infile, inf): The file name of a SILVACO standard structure file or a
DEVEDIT command file.
TYPE=<c> overrides the automatic file type recognition and loads file as the specified type.
SILVACO standard(mas): SILVACO standard structure file.
structure(str): SILVACO standard structure file.
[Link](deck): DEVEDIT command file.
MESH[=<boolean>]: If mesh is set to false, any mesh commands are ignored and structure
files are loaded without their mesh. This can greatly speed up load time. The old mesh is not
needed if you are trying to remesh a device. The default is mesh=true (accept mesh
commands and load structure file meshes).
3D Parameters
Z1=<n>: If a 2D region is loaded, convert to a 3D region, using z1 as the starting z plane.
Z2=<n>: If a 2D region is loaded, convert to a 3D region, using z2 as the ending z plane.
Z=<n>,<n> z1,z2 as one parameter.
Replaces Card
LoadFile FileName=<c> [Type=<c>] [Z=<point2d> | {Z1=<n> Z2=<n>}]
See Also
STRUCTURE

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JOIN Statements

4.11 JOIN
Joins two devices together.
Syntax
JOIN[[SIDE=]RIGHT|LEFT|TOP|BOTTOM] [Link]=<C> \
[ADJUST=<N>|[Link][=<BOOLEAN>]][[Link]=<N> \
[[Link]=<C>]][MIRROR[=<BOOLEAN>] \
[[Link][=<BOOLEAN>]]

Description
Combines the device currently loaded in DEVEDIT and a device stored in a file into one
device.
Parameters
[SIDE=]RIGHT|LEFT|TOP|BOTTOM: The side on which to join the new structure onto.
The default is side=right.
[Link]=<c>: The filename containing the device to be joined in the DEVEDIT
command format or the SILVACO standard structure file format.
ADJUST=<n>: If side=right or side=left, adjust the device down (or up if negative) a
specified amount before preforming join. If side=top or side=bottom, adjust the device to
the right (or to the left if negative) the specified amount before preforming join.
[Link][=<boolean>]: If true perform the necessary adjust [Link] to have
the semiconductor regions in both devices aligned at the top or left side of the joined device.
The default is [Link]=false.
[Link]=<c> ([Link]) specifies which material joins the two devices (e.g.,
Silicon, Aluminum, AlGaAr). See Section 4.29 “GENERIC PARAMETER - MATERIAL”
for a more complete list.
[Link]=<n>: The thicknessness of the spacer inserted between the two
devices.
MIRROR[=<boolean>] (FLIP) takes a mirror image of the new device before merging it
into the existing device. The default is not to mirror the new device.
[Link][=<boolean>]([Link]): If two regions made up of the same
material presently touch, the regions will be joined into one region. The attributes from the
region with the lowest ID is used for the combined region. The default value is true.

Note: Currently, the spacer parameters were not ready for release and cannot be included in Version 2.0.0.

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MESH Statements

4.12 MESH
Creates new mesh using previous set parameters.
Syntax
MESH[[MODE=][Link]|[Link]|DELETE]]
Description
When the mesh card is used, the following steps are performed.
1. Deletes any existing mesh.
2. Performs automatic boundary conditioning (if set). See Section 4.3
“[Link]” for more details.
3. Creates a base mesh. In [Link] mode, creates a tensor product mesh using
[Link] parameters. See Section 4.2 “[Link]” for more details. In
[Link] mode, it creates a tensor product mesh using all currently existing
boundary points, those remaining after boundary conditioning.
4. Refines on geometry. Any points not part of the base mesh are now handled.
5. Refines on impurities. See Section 4.9 “IMPURITY REFINE” for more details.
6. Refine on mesh constrains. See Section 4.4 “[Link]” for more details.
Parameters
[mode=][Link]|[Link]

Examples
# build mesh using mesh build algorithm.
mesh
mesh mode=[Link]
mesh [Link]

# build a first level tensor product mesh.

mesh [Link]

# delete existing mesh

mesh del
See Also
[Link], [Link],
[Link], [Link]

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MIRROR Statements

4.13 MIRROR
Mirrors the device.
Syntax
MIRROR [[SIDE=]RIGHT|LEFT|TOP|BOTTOM][[Link][=<BOOLEAN>]]

Description
Mirrors the device by creating a mirror image of the device in the given direction and joining
the image to that side.
Parameters
[SIDE=]RIGHT|LEFT|TOP|BOTTOM: The direction to mirror the device. The default
direction is right.
[Link][=<boolean>] ([Link]): If the region does not touch the
mirrored edge, the region will be split into two discrete regions. If [Link]=false, the
region is disjointed but remains one region. The default is [Link]=true.

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MOVE Statements

4.14 MOVE
Moves the device around in the work area.
Syntax
MOVE{[DIRECTION=]{RIGHT|LEFT|UP|DOWN}DISTANCE=<N>} \
|| {[[Link]=<N>] [[Link]=<N>]}

Description
Moves the device around in the work area. Does not change the device at all, only its relative
position in space.
Parameters
[DIRECTION=]{RIGHT|LEFT|UP|DOWN} (DIR): The direction to move the device. If
this parameter is used, a distance parameter must also be supplied. The default direction is
right.
DISTANCE=<n> (DIST): The distance (in microns) to move the device in the specified
direction.
[Link]=<n> ([Link]) moves the x coordinates of all point by adding [Link].
[Link] may be negative.
[Link]=<n> ([Link]) moves the y coordinates of all point by adding [Link].
[Link] may be negative.
Examples
move dir=right dist=3
# point 0,0 becomes 3,0

move left dist=3

# point 0,0 becomes -3,0

move [Link]=3
# point 0,0 becomes 0,3

move [Link]=-3 [Link]=3

# point 0,0 becomes -3,3

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PROFILE Statements

4.15 PROFILE
Adds, replaces, or deletes a 1D profile.
Syntax
ROFILE {NAME=<C> DELETE} \
| {[NAME=<C>] IMPURITY=<C> [Link]=<C>|INFILE=<C>
|[Link]=<POINT_2D>}
Description
Sets up a 1D doping profile that can later be used to distribute an impurity using the impurity
card.
Parameters
NAME=<c> is used to identify a 1D profile. This field is required in delete mode. If no name
is given and delete is not specified, a new name in the form “NewProfile000” is used. There
are a limited set of names that should not be used. See Section 4.8 “IMPURITY” for more
details.
DELETE deletes the profile identified by the name parameter.
IMPURITY=<c> specifies which impurity this profile is [Link] (e.g., Boron,
Arsenic, Potential). See Section 4.28 “GENERIC PARAMETER - IMPURITY” for a more
complete description.
[Link]=<c>: The file name of a SUPREM3 or a 1D SUPREM4 SILVACO Standard
Structure file. The selected impurity is extracted infile and the distance from the surface of the
semiconductor inf and the value at that location are stored. Only the data points in the
semiconductor are stored.
DATA. POINT=<POINT_2D>: Each data point consists of a distance from [Link] peak
value (surface) and the value (concentration) at that location.
Examples
# Load an arsenic profile from a suprem3 file
profile file=[Link] name=”Arsensic Profile” imp=arsenic

# Make a phosphorous profile

profile name=PhosProfile imp=phosphorous d.p=0,7e19 d.p=0.2,1e20 \
d.p=1,1e19 d.p=2,1e18 d.p=3,1e17

# delete the arsenic

profile delete name=”Arsensic Profile”
Replaces Card
Profile [Name=<c>] Impurity=<impurity> \ FileName=<c> |
DataPoint=<point_2d>...
See Also
IMPURITY

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QUIT Statements

4.16 QUIT
Exits DEVEDIT or ends reading file.
Syntax
BYE,END,EXIT,QUIT

Description
Any one of these four cards cause DEVEDIT to exit or, if reading a file, the remainder of the
file is ignored.

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REFINE Statements

4.17 REFINE
Manually refines existing mesh.
Syntax
REFINE [DIRECTION=]X|Y|BOTH|UNREFINE \
{X1=<N> Y1=<N> X2=<N> Y2=<N>} \
| {POINT.1=<N>,<N> POINT.2=<N>,<N>} \
| {LEFT=<N> TOP=<N> RIGHT=<N> BOTTOM=<N>}

Description
More (less if unrefine) triangles are created in the x, y, or both directions in the specified
rectangle. A mesh must currently exist that was not loaded from a structure file.
Parameters
[DIRECTION=]x|y|both|unrefine (DIR) refines direction.
x: More triangles horizontally. (~twice as many)
y: More triangles vertically. (~twice as many)
both: More triangles. (~four times as many)
unrefine: Less triangles.
X1=<n> (LEFT): Left side of box to (un)refine in microns.
Y1=<n> (TOP): Top of box to (un)refine in microns.
X2=<n> (RIGHT): Right side of box to (un)refine in microns.
Y2=<n> (BOTTOM): Bottom side of box to (un)refine in microns.
POINT.1=<n>,<n>X1,Y1 (P1) as one parameter.
POINT.2=<n>,<n>X2,Y2 (P2) as one parameter.
Replaces Existing Card
Refine Mode=<C> P1=<POINT2D> P2=<POINT2D>
See Also
MESH

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REGION Statements

4.18 REGION
Adds, replaces or deletes a region.
Syntax
REGION {DELETE {ID=<n>|ID=<c>|NAME=STRING>} \
| {{ID=<n>][NAME=<c>]}|ID=<c>} [MATERIAL=<c>] \
[COLOR=<n>] [PATTERN=<n>] POINTS=<point2d_list> \
[[Link]=<n>] [[Link][=<n>]] [Z1=<n>] [Z2=<n>]}

Preferred Abbreviation
REG

Description
A DEVEDIT device is made up of regions. Each region has a unique region ID number.
Regions also can have a name. Several regions can have the same name. Region names
should not start with a number. Some places accept a region ID number or a region name and
will assume a number is a region ID number.
Regions are made of a material and contain a list of non-intersecting polygons. A region can
consist of several discrete polygons. If one polygon is contained in another polygon, it is
considered a hole in the containing polygon. If a polygon is inside a “hole” polygon, it
describes a region with material and a hole in the hole.
For display purposes (inside DEVEDIT only), a region can contain a color and a fill pattern.
This is only used when DEVEDIT opens an X display window.
A region can also be an electrode. In that case, you can either supply the electrode ID number
or choose one from DEVEDIT. For future enhancement to simulators, you must also supply a
work function.
Parameters
DELETE deletes the region identified by id= or name=. You should only use one parameter
(id= or name=). If id is a number, delete the region with that number. If id is a string, delete
the region name with the lowest region number. If name= is used, delete all region names.
ID=<n> is a region number that uniquely identifies the region to be inserted, replaced or
deleted.
ID=<c> identifies the region with name <c> to be replaced or deleted. If no region has name
<c>, insert a new region with name <c> and the lowest unused region number. If two regions
have name <c>, the region with the lowest region number will be replaced or deleted.
NAME=<c> deletes all regions with name <c> when in delete mode. Otherwise, the region
being replaced or inserted will be given the name <c>.
MATERIAL=<c> specifies what material the region is made of (e.g., Silicon, Aluminum, or
AlGaAr). See Section 4.29 “GENERIC PARAMETER - MATERIAL” for a more complete
description.

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COLOR=<n> (COLOUR) displays region during DEVEDIT in X windows mode. This is an

RGB bitmap with eight bits per color. DEVEDIT has only a limited subset of these colors.
Therefore, the closest match is used. Some basic colors can be specified by name, such as,
red, green, blue, yellow, cyan, magenta, black, and white. See Section 4.27 “GENERIC
PARAMETER - COLOR”for a more complete description.
PATTERN=<n> is used as a fill pattern for display region in DEVEDIT in X windows mode.
See Section 4.30 “GENERIC PARAMETER - PATTERN” for a more complete description.
POINTS=<point_2d_list> is used for location of points making polygons that describe the
region.
[Link][=<n>] ([Link]) describes the region as an electrode, setting the
electrode number to <n>. If <n> is not supplied, the lowest unused electrode ID number will
be used.
[Link]=<n> used only if [Link] is set to define work function for
materials. This is not currently being used by any simulators but may be used in future
releases.
3D Parameters
Z1=<n> is the Z plane where region starts (in microns) for the 3D Mode.
Z2=<n> is the z plane where region ends (in microns) for the 3D Mode.
Examples
# ADD A 10 BY 10 MICRON BLOCK OF SILICON AS REGION #1
# WITH THE NAME “WAFFER” DISPLAYED IN RED
REGION ID=1 NAME=WAFFER MATERIAL=SILICON COLOR=0X30 \
POINTS=”0,0 10,0 10,10 0,10 0,0”

# ADD AN ALUMINUM CONTACT AS ELECTRODE #1 USING THE NEXT

# AVAILABLE REGION NUMBER WITH THE NAME “SOURCE”
# USING DEFAULT COLOR.
REGION NAME=SOURCE MATERIAL=AL [Link]=1 [Link]=4.28 \
POINTS=”0,-1 1,-1 1,0 0,0 0,-1”

# SET REGION #3 TO ELECTRODE #2

REGION NAME=SOURCE MATERIAL=AL ELEC [Link]=4.28 \
POINTS=”9,-1 10,-1 10,0 9,0 9,-1”

# DELETE REGION #2
REGION DELETE ID=2

# DELETE THE FIRST REGION NAMED SOURCE

REGION DELETE ID=SOURCE

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REGION Statements

# DELETE ALL REGIONS NAMED SOURCE

REGION DELETE NAME=SOURCE
Replaces Cards
AddRegion [Region=<n>][Name=<c>][Electrode=<n>] \
[Material=<c>][Color=<n>][Pattern=<n>] \
Points=<point2d_list> [WorkFunction=<n>][Z1=<n>][Z2=<n>]
DeleteRegion Region=<n>

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[Link] Statements

4.19 [Link]
Renumbers all regions to fill in gaps or specifically renumbers one region.
Syntax
[Link] [FROM=<n> TO=<n>]

Parameters
FROM=<n> region ID of region to be renumbered.
TO=<n> region’s new Region ID.

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SOURCE Statements

4.20 SOURCE
Runs commands stored in file (on existing device).
Syntax
SOURCE [Link]=<C> [Z1=<N> Z2=<N>] MESH[=<BOOLEAN>]

Parameters
[Link] (FILE) runs DEVEDIT cards contained in the specified file.
MESH=<boolean>: If mesh is set to false, any mesh commands are ignored. The default is
mesh=true (accept mesh commands).
3D Parameters
Z1=<N>: If a 2D region card is read, convert to a 3D region, using z1 as the starting z plane.
Z2=<N>: If a 2D region card is read, convert to a 3D region, using z2 as the ending z plane.
Replaces Card
IncludeFile FileName=<c> [Type=<c>][Z=<point2d>|{Z1=<n> Z2=<n>}]

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STRETCH Statements

4.21 STRETCH
Stretches the device.
Syntax
STRETCH{[Link]=<N>|[Link]=<N> [Link]=<N>}
| {[[Link]=<C> | MATERIAL=<C>] LENGTH=<N>\
| [Link]=<N>[Link]=<N>|[Link]=<N> \
CENTER[=<BOOLEAN>]} \
| {X1=<N>X2=<N>[Link]=<N>|LENGTH=<N>} \
| {Y1=<N>Y2=<N>[Link]=<N>|LENGTH=<N>}
Description
STRETCH provides many ways to make the device longer or taller or even narrower or shorter.
There are many parameters that can be used in many combinations, however, most of these
parameters are only for the most advanced user. Most users should be able to look at the first
five examples below and learn all they need about STRETCH.
STRETCH allows a vertical or horizontal line to be stretched out a specified amount or allows a
range to be evenly stretched.
The line to be stretched can be a specific location (x=1). Alternatively, the line can be the
center of a region, specified by the region’s name, ID or material. If a line is to be stretched
into an area, the width of the new area must be supplied. A [Link] can be supplied
to specify a new length. Alternatively, you can determine a new length for the specified
region. That is, the amount stretched equals the desired length minus the original length of the
region.
To stretch an area to cover an even larger area, an area can be specified by region name,
region ID, material name, x1/x2 pair, or an y1/y2 pair. If a region is specified, the center
option must be set to false. This area can be given a new length (using length) or an extra
amount (using [Link]) to be added to the length.
Length and [Link] are normally assumed to apply to the x direction, unless [Link]
or y1/y2 are used. [Link] or [Link] can be used to force the stretch to be in
the y direction. Mixed parameters, such as [Link] and [Link], should not be used
together.
In general, it is only useful to do line type stretches in areas where the impurities are fairly
constant, like the center of the gate on a MOSFET transistor. This allows a gate’s length to be
quickly changed for multiple simulations. This is described in the first five examples below.
Parameters
LENGTH=<n> (LEN, [Link], [Link]): This is the new x length of the specified
region, material, x1/x2 area, or y1/y2 area. If none of these are specified, the first region made
of poly silicon is used. If no such region exists, it is an error. Make sure not to shrink a region.
A warning will appear if the region shrinks. If [Link] or y1/y2 are used, this is the same as
[Link].

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[Link]=<n> ([Link]): This is the new y length of the specified region, material, or y1/
y2 area. If none of these are specified, the first region made of poly silicon is used. If no such
region exists, it is an error. Make sure not to shrink a region. A warning will appear if the
region shrinks.
[Link]=<c>: This is the name or ID number of the region used to identify the stretch
line at the center of this region. If center=false, then the whole region is stretched.
MATERIAL=<c>: The first region found made of this material is used to identify the stretch
line at the center of that region. If center=false, then the whole region is stretched. See
Section 4.29 “GENERIC PARAMETER - MATERIAL” for a list of materials.
[Link]=<n> (X) stretches from the vertical line x=[Link]. [Link] must be supplied
with this parameter.
[Link]=<n> (Y) stretches from the vertical line x=[Link]. [Link] must be supplied
with this parameter.
[Link]=<n> ([Link], [Link],VAL) stretches the device much longer. If
you use the [Link] or [Link] parameters, the stretch expands that line to the new width. If x1
and x2 or y1 and y2 parameters are used, the stretch is distributed throughout the range given.
[Link]=<n> ([Link]) is the same as [Link] except stretch
in the y direction. If you use [Link] or y1/y2, [Link] will also be in the y direction.
CENTER[=<boolean>] causes any stretch to happened at the center of the specified region.
center=false causes the stretch to be distributed over the region. center is defaulted to
true unless x1/x2 or y1/y2 parameters are used, in which case, it defaults to false.
X1=<n>: Start of x direction stretch. Use [Link] or length with this parameter.
X2=<n>: End of x direction stretch. Use [Link] or length with this parameter.
Y1=<n>: Start of y direction stretch. Use [Link] or [Link] with this parameter.
Y2=<n>: End of y direction stretch. Use [Link] or [Link] with this parameter.
Examples
# cause the device to be stretched at the center of first
# polysilicon region so that the new length of that region
# will be 1.5 microns in the x direction.
stretch length=1.5

# cause the device to be stretched at the center of first

# polysilicon region so that the new length of that region
# will be an extra 1.5 microns in the x direction.
stretch [Link]=1.5

# cause the device to be stretched at the center of first

# polysilicon region so that the new length of that region
# will be 1.5 microns in the x direction.
stretch material=polysilicon length=1.5

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STRETCH Statements

# cause the device to be stretched at the center of region #3

# so that the new length of region #3 will be 1.5 microns in the #
x direction.
stretch reg=3 length=1.5

# cause the device to be stretched at the center of the region

# named “gate” so that the new length of that region will be
# 1.5 microns in the x direction.
stretch reg=gate length=1.5

# cause the device to be stretch in the x direction so that new

# length of the region named “gate” will be 1.5 microns. The
# extra area will be evenly distribute across the whole gate.*
stretch reg=gate ^center length=1.5

# cause the region named “gate” to be stretch to 1.5 microns

# in the y direction. The device is expanded at the center of the
gate.
stretch reg=gate [Link]=1.5

# add an extra.5 microns in depth at y=2.0

stretch [Link]=2.0 [Link]=.5

# stretch out the doping profile between 2 microns in depth

# and 3 microns in depth to take 3 microns instead of 1 micron.
stretch y1=2.0 y2=3.0 length=3.0

Note: ^center is the same as center=false as described in Section 4.26 “GENERIC PARAMETER -
BOOLEAN TYPE” .

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STRUCTURE Statements

4.22 STRUCTURE
Saves current structure to a file.
Syntax
STRUCTURE OUTFILE=<C> # TYPE=MASTER (DEFAULT)
SAVE [Link]=<C> [TYPE=<C>] \ # TYPE=[Link] (DEFAULT)
[[TYPE=]MASTER|STRUCTURE|[Link]]

Parameters
[Link]=<c> (FILE, OUTFILE, OUTF): The file name used to store a SILVACO
Standard Structure file or a DEVEDIT command file. The structure card only stores SILVACO
Standard Structure files.
TYPE=<c>: The type of file to store. The possible values are:
• MASTER(MAS): SILVACO standard structure file.
• STRUCTURE(STR): SILVACO standard structure file.
• [Link](DECK): DEVEDIT command file.
3D Parameters
TYPE=<c>: In 3D mode, structure files are normally saved with prismatic elements.
mode=tetrahedrons (or mode=tet) can be used to output tetrahedral elements into a
structure file.
Replaces Card
SaveFile FileName=<c> [Type=<c>]

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SUBSTRATE Statements

4.23 SUBSTRATE
Special substrate electrode.
Syntax
SUBSTRATE DELETE \
| {[NAME=<C>][[Link]=<N>][[Link]=<N>][APPLY[=<BOOL-
EAN>]]}

Preferred Abbreviation
SUBSTR
Description
The substrate is a special region with no thickness that is placed at the bottom of the device.
The substrate is always considered to be an electrode.
Parameters
DELETE deletes existing substrate.
NAME=<c>: The name of the substrate electrode (default=substrate).
[Link]=<n> ([Link]) describes region as an electrode setting the electrode elec
number to <n>. If <n> is not supplied, the lowest used electrode ID number will be used.
[Link]=<n> ([Link]): Used only if [Link] is used to set work
function for materials. This is not currently used by any simulators, however, may be used in
future releases.
APPLY[=<boolean>] (for internal use only: default=true): If apply=false, only set
parameter in the substrate panel.
Examples
# Make the substrate electrode #3 and named collector.
substr name=collector [Link]=3 [Link]=4.28
Replaces Card
Substrate Delete \
| {[Name=<c>] [Electrode=<n>] \
[WorkFunction=<n>] [NoApply[=<boolean>]]}

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[Link] Statements

4.24 [Link]
Sets viewing area of canvas.
Syntax
[Link]{[X1=<N>][X2=<N>][Y1=<N>][Y2=<N>]} \
{[LEFT=<N>][RIGHT=<N>][TOP=<N>][BOTTOM=<N>]} \
| {[POINT.1=<POINT2D>][POINT.2=<POINT2D>]}
Description
Sets the viewing area seen in the main window of DEVEDIT (X windows mode only).
Parameters
X1=<n> (LEFT): Minimum x value of draw area.
X2=<n> (RIGHT): Maximum x value of draw area.
Y1=<n> (TOP): Minimum y value of draw area.
Y2=<n> (BOTTOM): Maximum y value of draw area.
POINT.1=<n>,<n> (P1): x1, y1 as a single parameter
POINT.2=<n>,<n> (P2): x2, y2 as a single parameter
Replaces Card
WorkArea P1=<point2d> P2=<point2d>

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[Link] Statements

4.25 [Link]
Defines z planes (3D mode only).
Syntax
[Link][{Z=<N> DELETE}|Z=<N>[SPACING=<N>]] [[Link]=<N>] \
[[Link]=<N>]

Description
Z planes are created at the front and back of all regions and at the specified z locations.
Additional z planes are added to meet the requirements of SPACING, [Link], and
[Link].
Parameters
Z=<n>: A Z plane that must exist or is to be deleted.
DELETE deletes the specified z plane and any associated spacing.

Note: If a z plane at the start or end of a region is deleted, only the spacing associated with that z plane is deleted.
The Z plane will still be made part of the structure.

SPACING (SPAC): The spacing around the specified z plane will be restricted to the
specified spacing. spacing=0 means there are no restrictions specific to this z
[Link]=0 is the default case.
[Link]=<n> ([Link]): This is the maximum gap (in microns)
between two adjacent z planes.
[Link]=<n> ([Link]): This is the maximum ratio of the gap between
two adjacent z planes and the gap to the next z plane.
Replaces Card
ZPlane Z=<n> [MaxSpacing=<n>][MaxRatio=<n>]

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GENERIC PARAMETER - BOOLEAN TYPE Statements

4.26 GENERIC PARAMETER - BOOLEAN TYPE

Parameters described like param[=<boolean>] are boolean parameters, meaning they can
be either true or false.
There are several ways to set the parameter to true. They are:
• param=true
• param #just listing the param sets it to true
• param=on
• param=1
• param=yes
There are several ways to set the parameter to false. They are:
• param=false
• ! param
• ^ param
• param=off
• param=0
• param=no
The default value for a boolean parameter type is dependent on the specific parameter.

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GENERIC PARAMETER - COLOR Statements

4.27 GENERIC PARAMETER - COLOR

In X window mode, regions and objects can have a color assigned to them. Regions have a
default color base on their material. The card, however, with color parameters can override
these colors.
The color can be set using a standard 24 bit number with eight bits for each color component,
red, green, and blue. The easiest way to use this is use hexidecimal values by starting the
number with “0x”. Each component than has a range from 00 (no color) to FF (full color).
See the example below.
color=0xFF0000# Full red
color=0x00FF00# Full green
color=0x0000FF# Full blue
Not all color combinations are supported by DEVEDIT. The closest color support by DEVEDIT
is used. The eight primary colors can be set by name (e.g., color=red).

Color Name Color Value

black 0x000000

red 0xFF0000

green 0x00FF00

blue 0x0000FF

cyan 0x00FFFF

yellow 0xFFFF00

magenta 0xFF00FF

white 0xFFFFFF

In hexidecimal, digits are 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F.

Note: 0x00 < 0x09 < 0x0A < 0x0F < 0x10 < 0xA0 < 0xF0 < 0xFF.

Each component should be considered separately.

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GENERIC PARAMETER - IMPURITY Statements

4.28 GENERIC PARAMETER - IMPURITY

Any of the following names can be used for impurity parameters. Names can be abbreviated
as long as the individual words remain unique in the list. A dot(.) can be used as a word
separator, otherwise multiple word impurities must be quoted. The short name is the preferred
abbreviation. Special effort will be made to keep these names unique when adding new
impurities.

Note: The number symbol(#), the equal sign(=), the single quote (‘) and the space symbol ( ) must be quoted.

4.28.1 Possible Values

Default [Link]
Preferred
Impurity Full Name
Abbreviations
Scale Transition Value

“Vacancies” vac log 1.0

“Interstitials” log 1.0

“Arsenic” log 1.0e+10

“Phosphorus” phos log 1.0e+10

“Antimony” log 1.0e+10

“Boron” log 1.0e+10

“Donors” log 1.0e+10

“Acceptors” log 1.0e+10

“Composition Fraction X”* [Link].x linear

“Composition Fraction Y”* [Link].y linear

“Electron Conc Process Simulation”* log 1.0

“Hole Conc Process Simulation”* log 1.0

“X Velocity Process Simulation”* [Link].p.s linear

“Y Velocity Process Simulation”* [Link].p.s linear

“Dry O2”* log 1.0

“Wet O2”* log 1.0

“Interstitial Traps”* log 1.0

“Gold Conc”* gold log 1.0

“Cesium” log 1.0

“Delta Area”* linear

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GENERIC PARAMETER - IMPURITY Statements

Default [Link]
Preferred
Impurity Full Name
Abbreviations
Scale Transition Value

“Stress XX”* linear

“Stress XY”* linear

“Stress YY”* linear

“Fixed Oxide Charge”* linear

“Potential” pot linear

“Device Potential”* [Link] linear

“N Mobility” [Link] log 1.0

“P Mobility” [Link] log 1.0

“Total Field”* log 1.0

“Fixed Charge”* log 1.0

“Impact Ionization Rate”* linear

“N Carrier Conc”* [Link] log 1.0

“P Carrier Conc”* [Link] log 1.0

“Conduction Current”* [Link] linear

“Displacement Current”* [Link] linear

“Total Current”* [Link] linear

“Electron QFL”* linear

“Hole QFL”* linear

“Valency Band Potential”* [Link] linear

“Conduction Band Potential”* [Link] linear

“NetDoping” [Link] log 1.0e+10

“Net Doping”*

“AbsNetDoping” [Link] log 1.0e+10

“Abs Net Doping”*

“Charge Concentration”* log 1.0

“Carrier Concentration”* car log 1.0

“Recombination Rate”* log 1.0

“Impact Gen’d Carriers”* [Link] log 1.0

“X Dir Electric Field”* linear

“Y Dir Electric Field”* linear

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GENERIC PARAMETER - IMPURITY Statements

Default [Link]
Preferred
Impurity Full Name
Abbreviations
Scale Transition Value

“Z Dir Electric Field”* linear

“Hole Temperature”* linear

“Elec Temperature”* linear

“Semiconductor temp”* linear

“Hole temp gradient”* linear

“Electron temp grad”* linear

“Electron velocity”* [Link] linear

“Hole velocity”* [Link] linear

“Intrinsic Conc (nio)”* log 1.0

“Aluminium conc”* log 1.0e+10

“Indium conc”* log 1.0e+10

“Gallium conc”* log 1.0e+10

“Carbon conc”* log 1.0

“QFL Gradient X-comp”* linear

“QFL Gradient Y-comp”* linear

“Total Field 2”* linear

“PAC” linear

“Intensity” linear

“Norm Intensity”* linear

“Norm grad Int”* linear

“Total Doping”* log 1.0e+10

“Net Active Doping”* log 1.0e+10

“Active Boron”* [Link] log 1.0e+10

“Active Phosph”* [Link] log 1.0e+10

“Active Arsenic”* [Link] log 1.0e+10

“Active Antimony”* [Link] log 1.0e+10

“Insulator Charge”* [Link] log 1.0

“Interface Charge”* [Link] log 1.0

“Semi Fixed Charge”* log 1.0

“Slow State Density”* log 1.0

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Default [Link]
Preferred
Impurity Full Name
Abbreviations
Scale Transition Value

“Fast State Density”* log 1.0

“Occupancy Trap 1”* [Link].1 linear

“Occupancy Trap 2”* [Link].2 linear

“Occupancy Trap 3”* [Link].3 linear

“Occupancy Trap 4”* [Link].4 linear

“Occupancy Trap 5”* [Link].5 linear

“Occupancy Trap 6”* [Link].6 linear

“Occupancy Trap 7”* [Link].7 linear

“Occupancy Trap 8”* [Link].8 linear

“Occupancy Trap 9”* [Link].9 linear

“Occupancy Trap 10”* [Link].10 linear

“Electron Current X-comp.”* [Link].x log 1.0

“Electron Current Y-comp.”* [Link].y log 1.0

“Electron Current Z-comp.”* [Link].z log 1.0

“Hole Current X-comp.”* [Link].x log 1.0

“Hole Current y-comp.”* [Link].y log 1.0

“Hole Current Z-comp.”* [Link].z log 1.0

“Current X-component”* cur.x log 1.0

“Current Y-component”* cur.y log 1.0

“Current Z-component”* cur.z log 1.0

“Displ Current X-component”* [Link].x log 1.0

“Displ Current Y-component”* [Link].y log 1.0

“Photo Generation rate”* log 1.0

“Hole Current magnitude”* [Link] log 1.0

“Electron Current magnitude”* [Link] linear

“Current Magnitude”* [Link] linear

“Current Flow”* [Link] linear

“Total Current (area)”* [Link] linear

“Elec Cur Dens X”* [Link].x linear

“Hole Cur Dens X”* [Link].x linear

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Default [Link]
Preferred
Impurity Full Name
Abbreviations
Scale Transition Value

“Current Dens X”* [Link].x linear

“Elec Cur Dens Y”* [Link].y linear

“Hole Cur Dens Y”* [Link].y linear

“N int.x” linear

“N int.y” linear

“P int.x” linear

“P int.y” linear

“Extended def size”* linear

“Extended def dens”* linear

“Current Dens Y”* [Link].y linear

“Hole Mobility Lateral”* [Link] linear

“Elec Mobility Lateral”* [Link] linear

“Hole Mobility Transverse”* [Link] linear

“Elec Mobility Transverse”* [Link] linear

“Electron SRH rec. tno”* linear

“Hole SRH rec. tno”* linear

“Cooling package Temp”* linear

“Equilibrium potential”* linear

“Applied potential”* linear

“Joule Heat Power”* linear

“Total Heat Power”* linear

“Rec.”* linear

“Heat conductivity”* linear

“Heat capacity”* linear

“Displacement J”* linear

“Displacement J X-comp”* linear

“Displacement J Y-comp”* linear

“Hole Diff coeff.”* linear

“Electron Diff coeff.”* linear

“Einstein Rel. Corr. Elect”* linear

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Default [Link]
Preferred
Impurity Full Name
Abbreviations
Scale Transition Value

“Einstein Rel. Corr. Holes”* linear

“Ionization Effect. field”* linear

“Ionization coeff h+”* linear

“Ionization coeff e-”* log 1.0

“Total recombination rate”* linear

“SRH recombination rate”* linear

“Auger recombination rate”* linear

“User recombination rate”* linear

“Surface recombination rate”* linear

“Effect. [Link]. lifetime”* [Link] linear

“SRH rec. Effect. lifetime”* linear

“Auger Recom. Eff. lifetime”* linear

“User Recomb. Eff. lifetime”* linear

“Surf. Recom. Eff. lifetime”* linear

“Effective BGN”* linear

“Effective BGN from C-band”* linear

“Effective GN from V-band”* linear

“Effective nie”* linear

“Structure temp”* linear

“Heat capacitance”* linear

“Heat conductance”* linear

“Material density”* linear

“Package layer index”* linear

“Package material index”* linear

“Material Type #”* linear

“Sem./Ins Material #”* linear

“Region #”* linear

“[Link] # w/o electrodes”* linear

“Sem./Ins # w/o electrodes”* linear

“Region # w/o electrodes”* linear

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Default [Link]
Preferred
Impurity Full Name
Abbreviations
Scale Transition Value

“Electrode #”* linear

“SRH par. n1/nie”* linear

“Relative Permittivity”* linear

“Celsius Temp”* linear

“D Vector Magnitude”* linear

“D Vector X-comp”* linear

“D Vector Y-comp”* linear

“D Vector Z-comp”* linear

“Cond. Current X-comp”* [Link].x linear

“Cond. Current Y-comp”* [Link].y linear

“Electron Velocity X-comp”* [Link].x linear

“Electron Velocity Y-comp”* [Link].y linear

“Hole Velocity X-comp”* [Link].x linear

“Hole Velocity Y-comp”* [Link].y linear

“Elec. Ionix. Eff. Field.”* linear

“Hole. Ionix. Eff. Field.”* linear

“Ratio nie/[Link].”* linear

“Ratio nie/ni”* linear

“Eff. BGN w/o T-depend.”* linear

“Thomson Heat Power”* linear

“Net Doping (linear)”* linear

“Total Doping (linear)”* linear

“Charge Concentration (linear)”* linear

“Heat Flow Density”* linear

“X Dir Heat Flow Density”* linear

“Y Dir Heat Flow Density”* linear

“Z Dir Heat Flow Density”* linear

“dT/dx” linear

“dT/dy” linear

“dT/dz” linear

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Default [Link]
Preferred
Impurity Full Name
Abbreviations
Scale Transition Value

“Gradient of Time”* linear

“Z Plane Index”* linear

Note: The number symbol(#), the equal sign(=), the single quote (‘) and the space symbol ( ) must be quoted.

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GENERIC PARAMETER - MATERIAL Statements

4.29 GENERIC PARAMETER - MATERIAL

Any of the following names can be used for material parameters. Names can be abbreviated
as long as the individual words remain unique in the list. A dot (.) can be used as a word
separator, otherwise multiple word materials must be quoted. The short name is the preferred
abbreviation. A special effort will be made to keep these names unique when adding new
materials.

Note: The number symbol(#), the equal sign(=), the single quote (‘) and the space symbol ( ) must be quoted.

4.29.1 Possible Values

Material Number Material Full Name Aliases 

(Structure File ID) (TonyPlot Material Name) (Compatability Names)

0 "Gas"

1 "SiO2" "Silicon Oxide" "SiO__2"

"SiOxide" "Oxide"

2 "Si3N4" "Silicon Nitride" "SiNO3"

"SiNO__3" "SiNitride"
"Nitride"

3 "Silicon" "Si"

4 "Polysilicon" "Poly"

5 "OxyNitride" "OxyNit"

6 "Aluminum" "Al"

7 "Photoresist" "PhotoRes"

8 "GaAs"

9 "Sapphire"

10 "Gold" "Au"

11 "Silver" "Ag"

12 "AlSi"

13 "Tungsten" "W"

14 "Titanium" "Ti"

15 "Platinum" "Pt"

16 "Palladium" "Pd"

17 "Cobalt" "Co"

18 "Molibdinum" "Mo" "Md"

19 "Lead" "Pb"

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Material Number Material Full Name Aliases 

(Structure File ID) (TonyPlot Material Name) (Compatability Names)

20 "Iron" "Fe"

21 "Tantalum" "Ta"

22 "AlSiTi"

23 "AlSiCu"

24 "AlGaAs"

25 "InGaAs"

26 "AlInAs"

27 "InP"

28 "Vacuum"

29 "Fictive GaAs" "GaAs-Hetro" "FGA"

30 "Mask Opaque"

31 "Mask Clear"

32 "Germanium" "Ge"

33 "AlAs"

34 "TEOS"

35 "BSG"

36 "BPSG"

40 "Alpha Si 1" "alpha-Si#1" "~a-Si__1"

41 "Alpha Si 2" "alpha-Si#2" "~a-Si__2"

42 "Alpha Si 3" "alpha-Si#3" "~a-Si__3"

43 "Alpha Si 4" "alpha-Si#4" "~a-Si__4"

50 "User #1" "UD1(<user-defined-name>)"

... ... ...
59 "User #10" "UD10(<user-defined-name>)"

60 "AlxGa1_xAs_x_0.25" "AlxGa1-xAs, x=0.25" "ALG1"

"AlGaAs1 (ALG1)"

61 "AlxGa1_xAs_x_0.5" "AlxGa1-xAs, x=0.5" "ALG2"

"AlGaAs2 (ALG2)"

62 "AlxGa1_xAs_x_0.75" "AlxGa1-xAs, x=0.75" "ALG3"

"AlGaAs3 (ALG3)"

63 "InxGa1_xAs_x_0.50 Unstr" "InxGa1-xAs, x=0.50,

unstrained" "ING0" "InGaAs
(ING0)"

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Material Number Material Full Name Aliases 

(Structure File ID) (TonyPlot Material Name) (Compatability Names)

64 "InxGa1_xAs_x_0.33 Str GaAs" "InxGa1-xAs, x=0.33, strained

matched to GaAs" "ING1"
"InGaAs (ING1)"

65 "InxGa1_xAs_x_0.75 Str InP" "InxGa1-xAs, x=0.75, strained

matched to InP" "ING2"
"InGaAs (ING2)"

66 "AlxIn1_xAs_x_0.50" "AlxIn1-xAs, x=0.50" "ALIN"

"AlInAs (ALIN)"

69 "Barrier"

70 "TiW"

71 "PMMA"

72 "SOG"

73 "Polyimide"

74 "Cooling package material"

75 "Copper" "Cu"

76 "Tin" "Sn"

77 "Nickel" "Ni"

78 "Ambient"

79 "Air"

80 "WSix" "Tungsten Silicide" "WSi2"

81 "TiSix" "Titanium Silicide" "TiSi2"

82 "NiSix" "Nickel Silicide" "NiSi2"

83 "CoSix" "Cobalt Silicide" "CoSi2"

84 "TaSix" "Tantulum Silicide" "TaSi2"

85 "PdSix" "Paladium Silicide" "PdSi2"

86 "PtSix" "Platinum Silicide" "PlSi2"

"PtSi2"

87 "MoSix" "Molybdenum Silicide" "MdSi2"

"MoSi2"
"Moly Silicide"

88 "ZrSix" "Zirconium Silicide" "ZrSi2"

89 "AlSix" "Aluminum Silicide" "AlSi2"

90 "Insulator"

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Material Number Material Full Name Aliases 

(Structure File ID) (TonyPlot Material Name) (Compatability Names)

91 "Conductor"

92 "Contact"

99 "3C-SiC"

100 "Diamond"

101 "SiGe"

102 "6H-SiC" "a-SiC"

103 "4H-SiC" "b-SiC"

104 "AlP"

105 "AlSb"

106 "GaSb"

107 "GaP"

108 "InSb"

109 "InAs"

110 "ZnS"

111 "ZnSe"

112 "ZnTe"

113 "CdS"

114 "CdSe"

115 "CdTe"

116 "HgS"

117 "HgSe"

118 "HgTe"

119 "PbS"

120 "PbSe"

121 "PbTe"

122 "SnTe"

123 "ScN"

124 "GaN"

125 "AlN"

126 "InN"

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Material Number Material Full Name Aliases 

(Structure File ID) (TonyPlot Material Name) (Compatability Names)

127 "BeTe"

128 "InGaP"

129 "GaSbP"

130 "GaSbAs"

131 "InAlAs"

132 "InAsP"

133 "GaAsP"

134 "HgCdTe"

135 "InGaAsP"

136 "AlGaAsP"

137 "AlGaAsSb"

140 "SiN"

141 "Computational Window"

142 "Phase shift"

143 "Si" "Green's Silicon 

(for atlas)"

144 "Polymer"

145 "CuInGaSe"

146 "InGaN"

147 "AlGaN"

148 "InAlGaN"

149 "InGaNAs"

150 "User #11" "UD11(<user-defined-name>)"

... ... ...
189 "User #50" "UD50(<user-defined-name>)"

190 "InGaNP"

191 "AlGaNAs"

192 "AlGaNP"

193 "AlInNAs"

194 "AlInNP"

195 "InAlGaAs"

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Material Number Material Full Name Aliases 

(Structure File ID) (TonyPlot Material Name) (Compatability Names)

196 "InAlGaP"

197 "InAlAsP"

198 "ITO"

199 "Pentacene"

200 "Alq3"

201 "TPD"

202 "PPV"

203 "Organic"

204 "Ba2YCu3O7"

205 "Ba2NdCu3O7"

Note: The number symbol(#), the equal sign(=), the single quote (‘) and the space symbol ( ) must be quoted.

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GENERIC PARAMETER - PATTERN Statements

4.30 GENERIC PARAMETER - PATTERN

On black and white displays, pattern fills are used instead of colors. There are 18 patterns
numbered 0 to 17. Pattern 0 (solid) and pattern 17 (empty) are normally not used. Each
material has a default pattern, which will be used by the region if no pattern is set.

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 Index

A MOVE ..........................................................................106
PROFILE ......................................................................107
Advanced Features (Meshing Example 2) QUIT ...........................................................................108
3D Structures ............................................................ 42–43 REFINE .......................................................................109
Circular Devices ............................................................... 46 REGION ...............................................................110–112
Combining Two ATHENA Structures into a Single Device .......... 44 [Link] ...................................................113
Stretch and Cut ................................................................ 45 SOURCE ......................................................................114
Analytic Functions STRETCH ............................................................115–117
Constant ........................................................................ 72 STRUCTURE ................................................................118
Error Function ................................................................. 72 SUBSTRATE .................................................................119
Error Function (Dist) .......................................................... 73 [Link] ................................................................120
Exponential ..................................................................... 72 [Link] ....................................................................121
Exponential (Dist) ............................................................. 74 DevEdit3d ..........................................................................42
Gaussian ........................................................................ 72
Doping
Gaussian (Dist) ................................................................ 73
3D Doping ......................................................................57
Linear (Dist) .................................................................... 73
Deleting Source Objects ....................................................57
Location Dependent Variables ....................................... 72, 73
Impurity Source Box ..........................................................57
Logarithmic ..................................................................... 72
Impurity Source Line .........................................................56
Logarithmic (Dist) ............................................................. 74
Source Attributes ..............................................................57
Step Function .................................................................. 73
User Supplied Variables .............................................. 72, 73 Doping Profiles
Adding ...........................................................................74
ATLAS .............................................................................. 13
Drawing Regions
Base Impurity (Doping) ......................................................55
B
Base Window E
Control Panel .................................................................. 11
Control Windows .............................................................. 11 Editing Regions
Layout and Functionality .................................................... 10 Adding ...........................................................................51
Main Panel Controls .......................................................... 11 Selecting Materials ...........................................................51
Boundary Conditioning .................................................... 58, 59 Error Function .....................................................................72
Error Function (Dist) .............................................................73
C
F
Cards And Parameters .................................................... 84–85
Command File File Control
Default Files .................................................................... 13 Command Files ................................................................13
Silvaco Standard Structure Files ..........................................12
Silvaco Standard vs. Devedit ...............................................13
D
DeckBuild .......................................................................... 29 I
DevEdit Statements
Impurities
[Link] ................................................................... 86
Add Impurity Mode ...........................................................66
[Link] ....................................... 87–88
Defining .........................................................................65
[Link] .................................................. 89–92
Loading ..........................................................................65
CUT .............................................................................. 93
Roll-off Direction ........................................................67–71
DEPOSIT ....................................................................... 94
Source Area ....................................................................67
FLIP .............................................................................. 95
Viewing ..........................................................................65
IMPURITY ................................................................ 96–99
IMPURITY REFINE ................................................ 100–101 Impurities (Meshing Example 1)
INITIALIZE ................................................................... 102 Adding .....................................................................23–24
JOIN ........................................................................... 103 Displaying the Doping ........................................................24
MESH .......................................................................... 104 Modifying ........................................................................24
MIRROR ...................................................................... 105

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J Obtain existing structure .....................................................30
Saving Mesh Files ......................................................38–41
Join Function Structure editing ...............................................................30
User Supplied Variables ...............................................75, 76 Summary ........................................................................47

M P
Manual ..............................................................................27 Parameter Type
Mesh Creation BOOLEAN ....................................................................122
Base Mesh Parameters .....................................................63 COLOR ........................................................................123
Final Meshing ..................................................................63 IMPURITY ....................................................................124
Impurity Refinement ..........................................................63 MATERIAL ....................................................................132
Mesh Constraints .............................................................63 PATTERN .....................................................................138
Mesh Controls .................................................................63 Problems ..............................................................................8
Saving ...........................................................................64
Mesh Creation (Meshing Example 1)
R
Manual Refine Box ...........................................................27
Mesh Constraints .......................................................26–27 Regions
Mesh Parameters .............................................................25 Deleting ..........................................................................55
MeshBuild .......................................................................25 Deleting Boundary Points ...................................................55
Refine on Quantities ....................................................25–26 Drawing ....................................................................53–54
Mesh Creation (Meshing Example 2) Editing ...........................................................................51
Boundary Conditioning ................................................32–34 Modifying ........................................................................55
Mesh Constraints .......................................................36–37 Regions (Meshing Example 1)
Mesh Parameters .............................................................34 Adding ...........................................................................18
Refine on Quantities ....................................................34–35 Electrodes ......................................................................22
MeshBuild Etch then Adding ..............................................................21
3D Structures ..................................................................62 Material Selection and Uniform Doping ..................................19
Adaptive Meshing .............................................................60 Modifying ........................................................................20
Boundary Conditioning ......................................................58 Setting Mole (Composition) Fraction .....................................20
Limitations ......................................................................59 Roll-Off Directions
Manually Refining .............................................................61 Rolloff=Both ....................................................................68
Manually Relaxing ............................................................61 Rolloff=High ....................................................................69
Mesh Constraints .............................................................59 Rolloff=[Link] ...........................................................69
Refinement .....................................................................61 Rolloff=Low .....................................................................69
Tensor ...........................................................................62 Rolloff=[Link] ...........................................................70
Work Area Resizing ..........................................................62 Rolloff=[Link] .................................................................71
Meshing Rolloff=Step ....................................................................69
Creating .......................................................16–29, 63–64 Rolloff=[Link] ...........................................................70
MeshBuild .................................................................58–62 Rolloff=[Link] ...........................................................70
Meshing Example 1 ....................................................16–29 Roll-Off Functions
Meshing Example 2 ....................................................30–41 Analytic Functions ......................................................72–73
Remeshing ...............................................................30–41 Analytic Functions (Dist) ...............................................73–74
Meshing Display (Meshing Example 2) Combining Impurity Rolloffs ..........................................78–82
Doping ...........................................................................31 Deleting Impurities ............................................................77
Impurity Junctions .............................................................31 Doping Profiles ................................................................74
Zoom .............................................................................31 Editing Impurities ..............................................................77
Meshing Example 1
Impurities ..................................................................23–24 S
Mesh Creation ...........................................................25–27 Save Generic Mesh Commands ..............................................13
Regions ...................................................................18–22
Saving Mesh Files (Meshing Example 1)
Saving Mesh Files ......................................................28–29
Batch Mode ...............................................................28–29
Work Area ......................................................................17
Command File .................................................................28
Meshing Example 2 Structure File ...................................................................28
Advanced Features .....................................................42–47
Saving Mesh Files (Meshing Example 2)
Display ...........................................................................31
Batch Mode ...............................................................39–41
Loading the Structure ........................................................30
Command File .................................................................38
Mesh Creation ...........................................................32–38

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 Structure File ................................................................... 38
Silvaco Standard Structure File (.str)
Loading .......................................................................... 12
Writing ..................................................................... 12–13
Solution ............................................................................... 8
Source Attributes
Gaussian ........................................................................ 57
SSUPREM3 ....................................................................... 74
SSUPREM4 ....................................................................... 74
Startup ................................................................................ 9
Structure Editing
Editing Summary .............................................................. 49
Panning ......................................................................... 49
Resolution ...................................................................... 50
Zooming ......................................................................... 49

W
When Not to Use ................................................................... 8
When to use ......................................................................... 8

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