Full-wave semiconductor devices simulation using meshless and finite-difference time-domain approaches

A new numerical method for the full-wave physical modelling of semiconductor devices using a combination of the meshless and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) approaches is described. The model consists of the electron equations for the active part and Maxwell's equations for the electromagnetic effects, which describe the complete behaviour of a high-frequency active device. The unconditionally stable method by using a semi-implicit meshless approach for the active model and the alternating-direction implicit (ADI)-FDTD approach for electromagnetic model leads to a significant decrease in the full-wave simulation time. Using this technique, we can achieve a 99% reduction in the computation time and obtain an acceptable degree of accuracy in comparison with conventional FDTD approaches. As the first step in the investigation, the authors use the electron flow equations without holes and recombination process as the semiconductor equations.