Atomic scale grid for modeling semiconductor structures and fabrication processes

Abstract

Roughly described, a system for simulating a temporal process in a body includes a meshing module to impose a grid of nodes on the body, the grid having a uniform node spacing which is less than the quantum separation distance in silicon. A system of node equations is provided, including at least one node equation for each of a plurality of nodes of the grid. The node equations describe behavior of at least one physical quantity at that node through each time step of the process. An iterating module iterates through the time steps to determine values for physical quantities of the body at the end of the simulation period. Preferably one particle of the body is assigned to each node of the grid. For moving boundary processes, boundary movement can be represented simply by changing the particle type assigned to various nodes of the grid as the boundary advances.