ATEMOX · Advanced TEchnology MOdelling for eXtra-functionality devices

Within previous European projects with major contributions by the current proposers, process simulation has been brought to a state which allows in industrial environments a sufficiently accurate simulation of doping profiles in advanced CMOS technologies. Important electrical characteristics of core CMOS devices can now be predicted from scratch or with a minimum calibration effort. However, concepts towards low-power electronics, smart power applications, CMOS image sensors, and CMOS derivatives providing extra functionalities are still not sufficiently supported by TCAD. This concerns especially the prediction of leakage currents in such or parasitic devices caused by electrically active defects that remain after processing, and alternative doping techniques like plasma immersion ion implantation, low-temperature implantation, diversified cocktail implants and laser annealing which are considered for low-leakage ultra shallow junctions. The lack of suitable models that can be used in the early stages of industrial R&D inhibits the necessary cost reduction in the development of devices for which Europe is still at the forefront. Our project will develop the full set of missing models and implement and include them into the Sentaurus TCAD platform of Synopsys so that they are of immediate value to the European semiconductor industry. The integrated models will finally be evaluated by STMicroelectronics with respect to industrial needs. To reach these ambitious goals, a consortium of European companies active in complementary fields of competence (STMicroelectronics: device manufacturing, Synopsys: TCAD software, Exico, IBS: equipment production, Probion, Semilab: characterization) and leading European research institutes (CNR-IMM, CNRS-LAAS/CEMES, ETH-Zurich, Fraunhofer-IISB, Univ. Newcastle) has been formed which, together, is well prepared to expertly cover all fields from experiment via characterization and modelling to simulation.