A Shock-Capturing Upwind Discretization Method for Characterization of SiC MESFETs

Abstract

A finite difference shock-capturing upwind discretization method in two dimensions is<br><br>presented in detail for simulation of homogeneous and nonhomogeneous devices. The<br><br>model is based on the solutions to the highly coupled nonlinear partial differential equations<br><br>of the full hydrodynamic model. These solutions allow one to calculate the electron<br><br>drift velocity and other device parameters as a function of the applied electric field. The<br><br>hydrodynamic model is able to describe inertia effects which play an increasing role in<br><br>different fields of micro- and optoelectronics where simplified charge transport models<br><br>like the drift-diffusion model and the energy balance model are no longer applicable.<br><br>Results of numerical simulations are shown for a two-dimensional SiC MESFET device,<br><br>and are in fair agreement with other theoretical or experimental methods