Simulation of femtosecond pulsed laser effects on MOS electronics using TCAD Sentaurus customized models

Abstract

Pulsed laser illumination constitutes an excellent tool to emulate the effects produced by the impact of highly energetic particles on electronic circuits. Numerical simulation techniques could be used to study these effects and to establish accurate relationships between the laser parameters and the particle characteristics. Unfortunately, although particle incidence can be accurately simulated, up to now, there not exist a simulation technique able to reproduce completely the effects in electronics produced by a femtosecond pulsed laser. In this paper, we explore the Synopsys Sentaurus TCAD ability to simulate the effects of pulsed laser illumination. Theoretical study of the physics of the laser–semiconductor interactions leads us to design a new simulation tool. Modifying the heavy ion generation rate included in Sentaurus TCAD, we can take into account all the theoretical predicted characteristics of femtosecond laser illumination, and reproduce the single event effects (SEE) found in experimental tests