Numerical Modeling of III-Nitride Semiconductors:

From Material Properties to Device Performance

Enrico Bellotti Boston University Birck 2001: Monday, June 27 from 3:00-4:00PM Abstract: This talk presents the current research activities of the BU Computational Electronics Group, which are aimed at developing multi-scale modeling approaches for semiconductor materials and devices. The first part of this talk will discuss the application of this methodology in examining the breakdown properties of wide band gap semiconductors, in particular GaN and AlGaN. Starting from DFT-based electronic structure calculations and computing the carrier phonon interaction without including fitting parameters, it will be shown that it is possible to predict macroscopic device performance of avalanche photodetectors and power rectifiers. The second part of this talk will discuss the current research aimed at understanding the behavior of dislocations, defect formation and migration in GaN, their impact on the electronic and optical material properties, and ultimately device reliability. The work at Boston Univ. has been supported in part by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory through the Collaborative Research Alliance (CRA) for MultiScale multidisciplinary Modeling of Electronic materials (MSME), NSF, ARO, CERDEC-NVESD and DRS.