【Semiconductor】 🧩 08-01. SemiDevKit Overview — Connecting TCAD, SPICE, and Reliability in One Flow

topics: [“Semiconductor”, “TCAD”, “BSIM4”, “SPICE”, “Reliability”]

🧭 Positioning of This Article (Series Hub)

SemiDevKit is an educational toolkit designed to connect the following semiconductor domains,
which are often learned in isolation, into a single continuous flow:

• 🧪 Device Physics (TCAD)
• 🧩 Compact Modeling (BSIM4)
• 🔌 Circuit Simulation (SPICE)
• ⏳ Reliability (NBTI / HCI)

This article serves as the entry point (hub / table of contents) for the entire series.

🔗 SemiDevKit Top Page
https://samizo-aitl.github.io/SemiDevKit/

🤔 Why an End-to-End Flow Is Necessary

Semiconductor learning tends to become fragmented:

• You understand the equations, but they never connect to V–I
• .model files turn into black boxes
• SPICE is reduced to just looking at results
• Reliability stops at “it degrades” without deeper insight

SemiDevKit intentionally breaks this fragmentation and is designed around the idea that:

Physics → Model → Circuit (V–I) → Degradation

should be understood as one continuous line, not separate topics.

🧱 Overall Flow of SemiDevKit

TCAD (Poisson / Drift–Diffusion)
   ↓
BSIM4 (Compact Model)
   ↓
SPICE (DC / AC / CV)
   ↓
Reliability (NBTI / HCI)

🔑 Key Points

• Each layer can be studied independently
• But understanding earlier layers directly strengthens later ones
• V–I (Voltage–Current) characteristics act as the common language

📘 What You Learn at Each Layer

① 🧪 TCAD (Device Physics)

• Poisson equation (electrostatic potential)
• Drift–Diffusion (carrier transport)
• Why MOSFET V–I characteristics emerge

🔗 TCAD Pages
https://samizo-aitl.github.io/SemiDevKit/tcad/

② 🧩 BSIM4 (Compact Modeling)

• Compressing physics into a circuit-usable form
• Physical meaning of BSIM4 parameters
• Visualizing what a .model actually represents

🔗 BSIM Pages
https://samizo-aitl.github.io/SemiDevKit/bsim/

③ 🔌 SPICE (Simulation)

• DC analysis: $V_g$–$I_d$, $V_d$–$I_d$
• AC / CV analysis: parasitic capacitance, frequency response
• Geometry dependence: L/W and short-channel effects

👉 Experience how model parameters appear in V–I

④ ⏳ Reliability

• NBTI: negative bias × temperature × time → $V_t$ shift
• HCI: oxide damage due to high-field carriers

👉 Adding the time axis brings designs closer to reality

📚 Series Index

• 01: SemiDevKit Overview (this article)
• 02: TCAD (Poisson / Drift–Diffusion)
• 03: BSIM4 Theory (Physics → Model)
• 04: Paramus (BSIM4 Model Generation)
• 05: DC Analysis (V–I: $V_g$–$I_d$, $V_d$–$I_d$)
• 06: AC / CV Analysis (Parasitic Capacitance, Frequency)
• 07: Device Scaling (L/W and Short-Channel Effects)
• 08: NBTI (Time-Dependent Degradation)
• 09: HCI (High-Field Degradation)

🎯 Intended Audience

• Students who want a systematic understanding of semiconductors
• Engineers who want to use BSIM4 / SPICE with real meaning
• Learners who want to experience the full design flow without commercial TCAD / EDA tools

▶ Next Article

Next, we start from the very upstream layer.

👉 02: Understanding the Essence of MOSFETs with TCAD
(Poisson / Drift–Diffusion)