Numerical methods for semiconductor device simulation

This paper describes the numerical techniques used to solve the coupled system of nonlinear partial differential equations which model semiconductor devices. These methods have been encoded into our device simulation package which has successfully simulated complex devices in two and three space dimensions. The discussion focuses on nonlinear operator iteration, discretization and scaling procedures, and the efficient solution of the resulting nonlinear and linear algebraic equations. The companion paper (Fichtner, et al., 1983) discusses physical aspects of the model equations and presents results from several actual device simulations.