Technology computer-aided design simulation of phonon heat transport in semiconductor devices

Abstract

We consider a method to simulate heat transport by phonons together with charge transport by electrons and holes that is applicable to standard technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulators. Because our proposed method handles each phonon mode separately, it can connect the atomistic calculation of phonon properties of materials directly to the TCAD simulation of the thermal behavior of semiconductor devices. We implement this method in our homemade TCAD and simulate heat generation and transport in a transistor with a thin silicon-on-insulator body using the phonon properties of Si obtained from lattice dynamics calculations. The same simulation is carried out with phonon heat transport approximated by the heat equation, and the results indicate that it is difficult for the heat equation to accurately reproduce the phonon heat transport.