MOS Devices and Tech. Lab, M.

Tech VL & ES- I

Diode TCAD Simulation
1. Device Drawing and Structure Generation
➢ Open Visual TCAD Simulation Manager. Go to file> new> device drawing

➢ Click on Ruler on left panel. Mark dimensions (4 um, 4 um, 0.2 um and 0.2 um) as shown
in Figure below.
➢ Draw rectangle of 4 um * 4 um (W * L). This will be the substrate for the device.

➢ Add region as substrate with silicon material and max mesh size 0.4 um.
➢ Mark these dimensions before doping.

➢ Click on Add Doping Profile. Add this for substrate with Uniform doping and Donor
species with 1e16 cm-3 concentration
➢ Also add doping profile for p-well for dimension 2 um * 0.1 um (Gaussian Profile,
Acceptor, Y-characteristics length 0.25 um and 1e+19 cm-3 concentration)

➢ Add two rectangles; one at top of 2 um * 0.02 um and one at bottom of 2 um * 0.02 um as
shown in figure for contacts.
➢ Add regions for diode contacts as anode and cathode. Save the .drw file.
➢ Next step is meshing. For this go to device and click on Do Mesh. Same option is also
available at left panel below add rectangle. You can also do spring method meshing.

➢ Select best quality of Mesh: 28 points

➢ If the structure is not properly mesh then do Refine Existing Mesh multiple times.
➢ Go to Device > Save Mesh to file. This will save your structure with meshing in TIFF
format. Save it to the same folder where drw file is saved.
2. Device Simulation
➢ Go to File > new> Device Simulation.

➢ Go to folder icon on left panel mentioned as load.

➢ Open your saved TIFF file.

➢ In Electrodes section, give voltage sweep to anode contact and apply zero constant voltage
to cathode contact. Simulation mode is steady state.
➢ Go to simulation and click Run. Same option is available as shortcut on left panel with
green color.
➢ It will ask for Save the simulation before running it. Click yes and give the file name and
save in the same folder where drw and tiff are saved. The file will be saved as .sim
format.

➢ It will ask to choose working directory. You can create one folder in the folder where
your drw, tiff and sim files are saved.
➢ Once simulation job completed go to Simulation > Show I-V data. Same option is available
as shortcut on left panel.

➢ One spreadsheet will open. Select Vapp(Anode[Anode_to_substrate]) and

I(Anode[Anode_to_substrate]). Right click and click on plot data with Voltage at X axis.

➢ Another plot window will open and I-V is plotted.

➢ Go to Plot > Export Data to Spreadsheet. Then File> Save as. It will save the data file. This
can be opened in MS Excel. Do slope function for resistance value. Also extract the diode
cutin voltage.
➢ Do this similar process for reverse characteristics.

3. Structural Analysis
Go to File > open > filename.vtu. Open VTU file of your structure. It is saved in the
working directory.
➢ Open the VTU file. Click on cutline. Take a cut.
➢ Plot the parameters given in Field list. For example electric field E.
4. Circuit Simulation
➢ We can also create the symbol of simulated device. Open the .sim file, and select the
simulation mode (left panel) as circuit element.

➢ Click on change symbol. Select diode from the list. Then click on empty box below device
electrode to select Pin_A as Anode. Same select cathode for Pin_K
➢ For example, we will simulate half wave rectifier here. Go to file> New> Circuit
Schematic.

➢ Go to Place and click on Numerical device. Same is available as shortcut on left panel.
➢ Click on sim file and open it. Place diode on schematic.

➢ Take the other circuit elements like ac voltage source, ground, wire, resistor, voltage probe
etc. and complete the circuit.
➢ Go to simulation>set up simulation. Same option is available as shortcut on left panel.
Select Analysis type as transient. Stop time 10 us. Click on Solver Option and click OK.

➢ Go to Simulation > Run Simulation.

➢ Select the working directory

➢ Simulation Job Submitted window will appear and simulation will be started. Once
simulation completed. Go to file > Open. Open your working directory. Open result.dat
file or your filename.dat file.
➢ Plot time on X-axis. Voltage (anode) and Volage (probe) on Y axis.