Contacts
Overview
Electrical, thermal and electrothermal contacts can be assigned to any edge—or combination of edges—along the perimeter of a region. A single contact may span multiple edges, and contacts can also be distributed across different regions, including junctions between regions. To successfully simulate a device, at least two contacts must be defined. A maximum of eight contacts can be added to a single device model.
Usage Instructions
To define a contact:
- From the Menu, select Define -> Contact.
- Using the cursor, hover the cursor over the geometric edges that make up the contact. When the edge is highlighted in green and the cursor changes to indicate a selectable element, left-click to select the edge.
- After defining all the contact edges, right-click anywhere to open the properties dialog for the contact. Use this dialog to set the contact's properties.
Parameters
General
| Name | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|
Name | A unique identifier for the contact. | - |
Contact Type | Used to define how contact will interact with the semiconductor. Options: [Ohmic, Schottky] | - |
Colour | Used to define visual colour of the contact (Not used in the solver). | - |
Thermal
| Name | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|
Resistance | Used to define the thermal resistance. | Kelvin/Watt |
Capacitance | Used to define the thermal capacitance. | Joules/Kelvin |
Ambient Temperature | Used to define the ambient temperature used in the simulation. | Kelvin |
Electrical
| Name | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|
Type | Used to define the thermal resistance. Options: [Ohmic, Schottky] | Kelvin/Watt |
Barrier | If image force barrier lowering is included at a Schottky contact, then set to On. Options: [On, Off] | Joules/Kelvin |
Material | Used to define the ambient temperature used in the simulation. | Kelvin |
Work Function | Work function of the contact material. Used to calculate the barrier height for a Schottky diode or the flat-band voltage for an oxide contact. | Kelvin/Watt |
P Richardson | If set to a non-zero, the value is used as the Richardson constant to calculate the thermionic emission current for holes. | - |
N Richardson | If set to a non-zero, the value is used as the Richardson constant to calculate the thermionic emission current for electrons. | - |
Diode Alpha | Coefficient used for calculating dipole lowering of Schottky barrier height. | - |