• A brief description: This course is intended for students interested in state-of-the-art analog or digital high speed/high frequency semiconductor devices. The principles of operation as well as advantages and disadvantages of each familly of devices will be discussed along with a brief description of technology. The topics include: 1. Review of semiconductor physics 2. Introduction to device simulation 3. Silicon-on-Insulator MOSFET, 4. GaAs MESFET, 5. Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors ( Si/Ge, III-V), 5. Scaling of semiconductor devices.
• Textbooks: S.M. Sze (editor), "High-Speed Semiconductor Devices", Wiley Interscience, ISBN: 0-471-62307-5. and J.P. Collinge, "Silicon-on-Insulator Technology: Materials to VLSI," Kluwer Academic Publishers, ISBN 0-7923-9150-0.

• Goals: To analyze and discuss the recent developments in semiconductor device technology with special emphasis on high speed, high-frequency devices and devices operating on novel principles. Compare advantages and disadvantages of various technologies. Introduce the problems associated with scaling to ever smaller dimensions.
• Prerequisites By Topic: Understanding of semiconductor physics fundamentals. Understanding the operation of basic electronic devices: p-n junction diodes, bipolar transistors and MOSFETs.
• Topics:
  • Semiconductors and their electronic properties. Review of fundamentals: crystal structure, valence bonds, energy bands, density of states, intrinsic carrier concentration, donor and acceptors, carrier drift and diffusion, carrier injection, generation and recombination, continuity equation, high-field effects. Basic description of a p-n juction behavior: depletion region, depletion capacitance, current-voltage characteristics, charge storage and transient behavior, junction breakdown. Special properties of GaAs and other III-V compound materials. (4 hours)
  • Introduction to device simulation tools. Examples of application to MOSFETs and BJTs. Characterization using simulation. (4 hours)
  • Basic SOI CMOS technology: SIMOX, oxygen implantation, annealing parameters, multiple implants, low-energy implantation, material quality, comparison between bulk and SOI processing, isolation techniques, doping profiles, source and drain silicidation (2 hours).
  • The SOI MOSFET operation and analysis: Introduction, Distinction between thick- and thin-film devices, I-V characteristics, Threshold voltage, body effect, short-channel effects, output characteristics, transconductance and mobility, subthreshold slope, impact ionization and high-field effects, kink effect, hot-electron degradation, parasitic bipolar effects, anomalous subthreshold slope, reduced drain breakdown voltage, accumulation-mode p-channel MOSFET. (8 hours)
  • MESFETs: operation and comparison with HBTs. Introduction, the Metal-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MESFET), p-n junction Field-Effect Transistor (JFET), permeable base transistor (PBT), summary and future trends. (8 hours)
  • Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors: operation and analysis. Introduction, principles of Bipolar transistor operation, advanced Si bipolar transistors, heterojunction bipolar transistors, silicon-based HBTs, GaAlAs/GaAs HBTs, InGaAs HBT, summary and future trends. (8 hours)
  • Issues in scaling of semiconductor devices. Scaling of MOSFETs and its dependance on junction dept, oxide thickness and depletion width. Isolation and the MOSFET. Summary and future trends. (6 hours)
• Computer Usage: Homework related to the design of semiconductor electronic devices, circuits, and systems.
• Grading: Students are expected to submit and present one project relating to design and analysis of semiconductor devices. Extensive use of computers is anticipated. 60% of the grade is based on the project, while another 20% comes from homeworks and 20% from two quizes.

• Introduction to some basic solid-state concepts: introduction_1.ps and introduction_2.ps
• Introduction to SOI, part 1 SOI_1.ps
• Introduction to SOI, part 2 SOI_2.ps
• Introduction to SOI, part 3 SOI_3.ps
• Introduction to SOI, part 4 SOI_4.ps
• Introduction to SOI, part 5 SOI_5.ps
• Introduction to SOI, part 6 SOI_6.ps
• New! MESFETs mesfetal.ps.

A list of possible projects and instructions is given in Project list. Further details will be given in the classroom.