TABLE OF CONTENTS Understanding the MC method as a versatile tool to solve integral equations enables its application to a class of problems which are not accessible by purely physically-based, imitative MC methods. One such class, which plays an important role in electrical engineering, is the linearized small signal analysis of nonlinear systems. Whether the linearized system is analyzed in the frequency or time domain is just a matter of convenience since the system responses obtained are linked by the Fourier transform.
At present, linear small signal analysis of semiconductor devices by the MC method is beyond the state of the art. The established technique to study the small signal AC characteristics consists of an EMC simulation followed by a Fourier transform of the step response currents. Since the EMC simulation captures the general nonlinear behavior of a device the voltage increment must be sufficiently small in order to stay in the linear response regime.
For small signal analysis of bulk carrier transport, however, various MC algorithms have been reported [25], [26], [27], [28]. The formal approach pointed out in the previous Sections allows new and existing algorithms to be derived in a unified way [29].
Choosing a formulation in the time domain, a small perturbation E 1 is super imposed to a stationary field E s. The stationary distribution function f s will thus be perturbed by some small quantity f 1.
Inserting this Ansatz into the transient Boltzmann...
