Simulation of Defects and Diffusion Phenomena in Si: from ab-initio Calculations to Predictive Tools

Simulation of front-end processing is a critical component of integrated circuit technology development. Today's electronics are so small that characterization of the material parameters is very difficult and expensive. Simulation is often the only effective tool for exploring the lateral and vertical doping profiles of a modern device in the level of detain required for optimization. Additionally, the cost of fabrication and test lots increases with each technology generation, for this reason simulation becomes especially cost-effective, if it can be made accurate. Increasingly, process simulation if being performed by harnessing a hierarchy of tools. Increasingly, process simulation is being performed by harnessing a hierarchy of tools. Ab-initio and molecular dynamics (MD) codes are used to generate insight into the physics of individual particle reactions in the silicon lattice. This information can be fed to kinetic Monte Carlo (MC) codes to establish the dominant, critical. Finally, traditional continuum codes can make use of this information and couple in with the other process steps to simulate the entire process flow. Both MC and continuum codes can be compared to experiment to validate the calculations. We will introduce the basic concept of the hierarchical modeling of silicon by illustration of its application to shallow junction formation technologies. implantation and diffusion. The preceding article by Cowern and Rafferty discusses some of the prime experimental evidence, and this article will focus on theoretical framework used to model and understand the data presented in their article.