Gate Current Calculations Using Spherical Harmonic Expansion of Boltzmann Equation

Abstract

A physics-based gate current model has been developed based on nonequilibrium electron energy distributions obtained from the spherical harmonic expansion of the Boltzmann equation. The model accounts for band structure effects, relevant microscopic scattering mechanisms, and electron injections caused by tunneling and thermionic emission processes with parallel momentum conservation and image potential barrier lowering. Obtained distribution functions and injection currents agree well with Monte Carlo simulations and experiments.