Compact Models for Integrated Circuit Design

2

Review of Basic Device Physics

2.1    Introduction

Compact device models for circuit CAD (computer-aided design) requires detailed description of the transistor characteristics in the circuit environment under various biasing conditions. Transistor characteristics, however, depend on the material properties of the basic building blocks of each transistor along with its geometrical and structural information. IC (integrated circuit) transistors are fabricated on a semiconductor substrate such as silicon to achieve the desired device characteristics for the target circuit performance. These device characteristics are modulated by the transport of current-carrying fundamental constituents of matter referred to as the electrons and holes