Optimized numerical models for semiconductor devices: Part II

This article presents some results from a study that was concerned with the trade-off between efficiency of numerical computation and accuracy of numerical models for semiconductor devices. The approach taken in this study was to use optimized nonuniform grids in the finite difference equations approximating the semiconductor partial differential equations. This paper presents a second choice of performance function that allows a minimization of the truncation error made in the difference approximation to the continuous equations. The truncation error approach is more elegant and more useful than the terminal current approach reported in Part I [7]. An example is presented to illustrate the results obtained with the truncation error performance function. A significant side result is that when the truncation error is minimized, then all other desired features are optimized for the numerical models for semiconductor devices.