NNCI Computation Webinar

The Evolution of Process TCAD in Semiconductor R&D and Manufacturing

Abstract: Today, nearly every aspect of an integrated circuit is designed using electronic design automation (EDA) software. Technology computer aided design (TCAD) tools are used for modeling front-end-of-line manufacturing, including the fabrication (Process TCAD) and electrical characterization (Device TCAD) of individual transistors. These tools have
been utilized over the last six decades to help realize Moore’s law scaling – the driver behind the exponential increase in
transistor density – alleviating the high cost of expensive fabrication experiments. The development of each logic node
has, in turn, driven the development of the TCAD tools to account for new fabrication and manufacturing techniques.

The basic fabrication steps in building a full transistor with Sentaurus Process TCAD are ion implantation, diffusion and
dopant activation, etching, deposition, and oxidation where process conditions such as the ambient chemical composition,
temperature, and pressure during individual fabrication steps are typically included. While these basic steps exist in some
form in each new technology node, how they are realized changes, for example the development of 3D oxidation models
for FinFETs. In addition, as traditional scaling comes to an end, system level design considerations, such as back-endof-line parasitic capacitance and resistance need to be accounted for opening up new processing techniques such as
Atomic Layer Deposition and Etching (ALD/E).

In this talk, It will be discussed how Process TCAD has evolved to keep up with technology evolution and how new drivers in
electronics applications, such as 5G, IoT, and autonomous vehicles are driving the next generation process TCAD tools.

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