Numerical Analysis of Semiconductor PN Junctions Using MATLABTM

The purpose of this project is to develop a functional PN semiconductor device simulator that is modular in nature in order to allow for flexibility during programming and to allow for future development with relative ease. In addition, the program’s main goal is to provide a tool that can supplement device modeling and the standard course material covered in a basic college level introduction, semiconductor device physics, course or and numerical analysis course and to construct basic PN semiconductor devices which can be studied using standard numerical analysis techniques. A device modeling program is developed using the basic MATLAB tools necessary to understand the operation of the program and allow future developments as necessary. MATLAB’s capability and inherent nature of handling matrices and matrix operations makes this approach an excellent technique to develop numerical analysis algorithms.
The program solution will be used to examine device parameters such as carrier statistics, device potential, and internal electric fields. The device solution is compared to analytical approximations in order to further strengthen the understanding between theory and exact numerical solutions and how those solutions are obtained.