Future Device Modeling Trends

Good transistor models are essential for efficient computer-aided-design (CAD) of nonlinear microwave and RF circuits, monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs), power amplifiers (PAs), and nonlinear RF systems. Increasingly complicated demands of the various semiconductor technologies (e.g., GaAs pHEMTs, InP double heterojunction bipolar transistors (DHBTs), silicon on insulator (SOI), LDMOS, GaN HFETs, etc.), and their applications in terms of power and frequency of operation and complexity of applied signals (e.g., modern communication signals with high peak-toaverage ratios) have placed commensurate requirements on the accuracy and generality of the device models used for design. New semiconductor material systems (e.g., GaN) have been developing at such a fast rate that conventional compact modeling approaches may not be able to keep up. These and other challenges have spawned much research into the advanced nonlinear device modeling techniques that are the focus of this article.