Electrothermal Monte Carlo Simulation of a GaAs Resonant Tunneling Diode

Abstract

This paper deals with the electron transport and heat generation in a Resonant Tunneling Diode semiconductor device. A new electrothermal Monte Carlo method is introduced. The method couples a Monte Carlo solver of the Boltzmann–Wigner transport equation with a steady-state solution of the heat diffusion equation. This methodology provides an accurate microscopic description of the spatial distribution of self-heating and its effect on the detailed nonequilibrium carrier dynamics.

Keywords

• Monte Carlo methods
• statistical mechanics of semiconductors
• heat transfer