Vasileska The demand for speed, performance and cost effectiveness continues to push the semiconductor devices towards the limits of miniaturization. In these ultra-small devices of the future, random microscopic fluctuations in the number and location of the dopant atoms induce inhomogeneities in the potential and the field pattern among a large number of what should be identical devices, thus causing intrinsic variation in their threshold voltage and drain current characteristics. The potential fluctuations, which lead to further electron confinement into quantum dots, naturally bring one from the problem of ultra-small devices to the problem of understanding transport in single and coupled quantum dot structures. Along with these rather exciting technological trends, the difficulties associated with the fabrication of the ultra-small devices of the future are putting new demands on the area of computational electronics. .
On the research side, a variety of tools will be developed, including 3D Monte Carlo particle-based simulators, 3D Schrodinger-Poisson solvers and a 2D quantum-transport simulator based on non-equilibrium. Green's functions formalism. Links will be established with National Laboratories (NASA Ames Research Center) to enable us to transfer the developed tools to a multi-processor environment. Through links with the Industrial partners (Intel, Motorola), the developed tools will be calibrated on their available experimental data.
On the educational side, an undergraduate course that will focus on numerical modeling of semiconductor devices will be introduced into the curriculum. Revisions will be made on the existing graduate level computational electronics class. A unique way of including undergraduate students in the research through senior design and honors thesis projects will be pursued. An Electrical Engineering Lab will be created as part of the general efforts within the ASU's WISE program to introduce the engineering discipline to middle school and high school female students. To make the existing simulation tools available for ASU's experimental groups and even further, a computational hub accessible through the Web will be established. For the purpose of increasing ASU's visibility in terms of web-based classes and research activities, a common Web site for the ASU'S device modeling groups will be developed. ***
