We are proud to announce the release of Version Aug14 of device simulator packages (APSYS, LASTIP, PICS3D and OPTOWIZARD).

The main feature in this version is a complete upgrade of Crosslight’s famous compound semiconductor material data library system. The new material data system, named simplified complex library (SCXLIB), unifies passive and active semiconductor material macros of different types (quantum wells of different types, quantum wire, quantum dot and active-bulk region) and offers clear and easy-to-understand material names.

For new users of Crosslight, the SCXLIB material system is clearer and easier to set up. For expert users, the new data system offers better consistency and robustness in applications dealing with complicated quantum well/wire/dot structures.

While encouraging the conversion of all existing projects into the new SCXLIB system with a semi-automatic converter, Version Aug14 maintains full backward compatibility. We intend to support older material system for several years before a complete switch over.

Other significant features include the upgrade of non-local quantum transport model for multiple quantum well (MQW). The Aug14 version introduces
a model to account for leakage due to hot carriers generated by CCCH Auger recombination, an effect which was recently claimed to be observed experimentally.
The new hot-Auger model works together with other existing models such as electron overflow leakage and hole injection blocking in GaN-LED. We are proud to offer APSYS Aug14
that would satisfy all schools of thoughts in the continued controversy over the origin of LED droop.

The mixed-mode model has been upgraded to handle multiple TCAD devices in a circuit environment. Users can set up process and device simulations for individual devices with isolated mesh (2D or 3D); our Minispice model (Crosslight’s implementation of SPICE) can then be used to join the individual devices in a circuit simulation.

For sensor applications, k.p perturbations due to non-common-atom interfaces (such as those in type II InAs/GaSb superlattices) have been implemented as a first step to improving our model.
Full implementation of the model (including periodic QW boundary conditions and gain calculations) will also be made available in our beta version soon; please contact Crosslight for early access.

Other improvements involve enhancement of mobility model collection, enhanced FDTD capability in the OPTOWIZARD package, and improvement in the advanced NEGF transport model. Interested readers
may contact Crosslight for more details.

A research article co-authored by Crosslight’s Simon Li has been selected has an Applied Physics Letters Editor’s pick in Device Physics. As a result of this selection, the article may be downloaded for free for a limited time from the APL website.

Are Electron-Blocking Layers Always Beneficial?

An APL article co-authored by Crosslight’s Simon Li and Changsheng Xia is featured in Compound Semiconductor magazine. The full text can be found here.

A new book, “Integrated Power Devices and TCAD simulation” is published by CRC press

A new book co-authored by Crosslight’s Fred Yue Fu, Simon Li, Prof. W.T. Ng from University of Toronto and Prof. Johnny Sin from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has been published by CRC press. This book covers a wide range of topics including power electronics, power ICs, power devices, TCAD process simulation, TCAD device simulation as well as some basic introduction to GaN HEMT power devices. More information can be found on the publisher’s web page.

Heavy ion radiation model added to v.2013 device simulators (Oct. 4th 2013)

A new model has been added to APSYS and our other device simulators to model the effects of
a heavy ion hit on device performance. This allows the software to import Linear Energy Transfer
(LET) data from third-party software tools such as SRIM/TRIM.

Version 2013 device simulators released (Sep. 24th 2013)

Version 2013 release represents a high level of maturity for
Crosslight’s device simulation packages of APSYS, PICS3D and LASTIP.
The following is a brief summary of recent upgrade and enhancements:

• New system allows the use of user-defined material labels in addition to material numbers
  in most commands. This offers more flexibility and convenience in situations
  where the material the number of materials changes.
• Crosslight FDTD greatly sped up using GPU technology.
• Convenient mesh elimination in LayerBuilder GUI.
• Improved output data format and significant speed-up of CrosslightView for large 3D mesh
• Improved computation speed due to improved mesh and use of GPU.
• New model to account for side mode/main mode competition (PICS3D)
• Improved data output capabilities including various forms of optical gain/loss,
  optical cavity propagation constants, linewidth and noise.
• Automatic setting of metal work function to enforce condition of Ohmic contact.
• Flexibility in carrier generation/injection modeling so that flash memory R/W
  process can be simulated with ease.
• Doping profiles in 3D simulations can now straddle multiple mesh planes with a single declaration.
• Manybody gain model defaults improved with stronger bandgap renormalization
  effect, consistent with experimental measurements.
• Implementation of non-equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) method.
• Mixed-mode simulation with circuit format compatible with various popular versions of SPICE.
• Raytracing program improved to allow better output of spectrum data (APSYS).

Crosslight Short Course in Ottawa (Sep. 9th 2013)

Crosslight is pleased to announce a 3-day seminar on photonic device and HEMT simulation Oct. 17-19 in Ottawa/Gatineau. This event is organized by CMC Microsystems so registration information and further details can be found here.

Crosslight Software Tutorial at NUSOD 2013 (May 28th 2013)

Crosslight is pleased to offer a free half-day short course on optoelectronic device simulation on Friday August 23rd at the NUSOD conference in Vancouver. Details are available from this
link.

Pre-registration is encouraged and participants should bring a Windows laptop to run a demo version of the software during the hands-on part of he tutorial.

Breakthrough in FDTD simulation technology (May 28th 2013)

Crosslight is pround to announce a breakthrough in FDTD simulation technology with high efficiency GPU acceleration. A state-of-the-art acceleration factor of 66x using inexpensive GPU cards has been achieved.
The new module is now available in applicable Crosslight TCAD tools including OptoWizard, APSYS and PICS3D. Interested users are encouraged to obtain a free demo from Crosslight. For more details, please check this
link.

New Hybrid NEGF method (Feb. 27th, 2013)

Crosslight is pleased to announce the successful implementation of a new method of device simulation, the non-equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) method. The NEGF method is regarded as the most advanced method for modeling carrier transport in devices at a nanometer scale. Due to its computational complexity, we have adopted a hybrid approach to divide a device into a quantum ballistic regime (QBT) and several classical drift-diffusion (DD) regime(s). The computationally intensive NEGF method is only used in the QBT regime and it has been seamlessly integrated with the APSYS device simulation software from Crosslight. Users of Crosslight will find running NEGF simulation to be no different than running a typical TCAD simulation except for a slight slow down due to the extra numerical cost of the NEGF calculations.

The new model is now available in APSYS version 2013beta and further details can be found in a new presentation which demonstrates the use of the NEGF model by going through all the process and device simulation steps for a 3D FINFET. To make the simulation more accurate, quantum confinement is treated using a quantum wire density of state (DOS) theory.

Existing users of Crosslight TCAD tools and new potential users may contact us for a free evaluation trial. The application form may be found here.

Crosslight Short Course at Photonic West 2013 (Nov. 7th, 2012)

Crosslight is pleased to offer a free half-day short course on optoelectronic
device simulation on Wednesday, Feb. 6th at the Photonics West conference in San Francisco.
Details are available from this
link.

Introducing Optowizard (Sep. 4th, 2012)

Optowizard is a new software modeling tool from Crosslight intended
for optical modeling of passive devices. Crosslight’s device simulators
have a long history of tightly coupling optical and electrical models. Depending
on the situation, a wide variety of models were available including:

• eigenmode solvers
• beam propagation methods (BPM)
• multi-layer transfer matrices (TMM)
• finite difference time domain models (FDTD)
• ray tracing

With Optowizard, these models are now available for stand-alone use for users
who do not need to solve the full device equations.

Along with Optowizard, Crosslight is also pleased to introduce its own brand new
FDTD solver which can be used in place of the previous solvers from MIT (Meep)
and Acceleware. Crosslight’s FDTD code can also be used in APSYS and PICS3D
to model CMOS image sensors and photonic crystal lasers.
Details can be found here.

Version 2012 device simulators released (Aug 31st, 2012)

Version 2012 release represents a high level of maturity for
Crosslight’s device simulation packages of APSYS, PICS3D and LASTIP.
The following is a brief summary of recent upgrade and enhancements:

• The most popular and easy-to-use graphic user interface (GUI)
  program LayerBuilder program has been substantially upgraded
  to account for nonplanar layer structure.
  Previous versions LayerBuilder can only handle leveled
  layers while leaving all other tasks of structural variation
  to the more sophisticated GUI GeoEditor.
• The CSuprem 3D mesh interface has been established for VCSEL modeling.
  The latest 3D meshing technology to handle unstructured mesh,
  the plane bending method, has been used to set up 3D VCSEL structures.
  As a result, detailed 3D geometries
  like those in realistic VCSELs can be taken into account.
• Version 2012 improves on modeling of
  polarization-dependent spontaneous recombination.
  Accurate computation of TE, TM and TE/TM-mixed spontaneous
  recombination/emission is now automatically generated in all
  simulations. This benefits all devices where spontaneous emission plays an important role.
• SPICE mixmode simulation interface has been established so that simutaneous
  simulation of circuit and device can be performed routinely.
  Currently, the mixmode interface supports CSPICE, a Crosslight version
  of SPICE but with minor customization, any other versions of SPICE
  can be supported.
• AM, FM and RIN noise spectrum modeling is now available in PICS3D.
• Miniband transport model is further enhanced to efficiently
  model quantum dots and MQW superlattices embedded in devices
  such as solar cells and LEDs.
• Polarization charge-dependent potential has been incorporated in
  quantum dot models of GaN based devices, improving the self-consistency
  of these simulations.
• Field-dependent velocity models for GaN and related material have
  been improved and upgraded.
• Several more recent impact ionization models have been added to the device
  simulators.
• Polarization charge model in arbitrary structures have been
  further improved to include different crystal orientation in different
  regions of a device. As a demo, complex nanowire/nanorod of nitride
  material have been demonstrated in 3D, using the CSuprem mesh builder
  as mesh generator.
• PICS3D: laser cavity set up is more convenient so that any configuration
  of micro-cavity can be simulated. A micro cavity photonic crystal laser
  diode has been demonstrated in 3D as a result of this improvement.
• Self-heating thermal model substantially improved to ensure
  accurate conservation of heating energy. The thermal model is also more
  flexible in dealing with non-convergence caused by strong local heatings.
• Significant enhancement of data plotting capabilities in device simulators.
  These include bias-dependent plots such as recombination terms,
  optical losses and impact ionization rates, at a particular spatial
  point as well as integrated over the whole device.

Crosslight Short Course at Photonic West 2012 (Nov. 7th, 2011)

Crosslight is pleased to offer a free half-day short course on optoelectronic
device simulation on Thursday, January 26th at the Photonics West conference in San Francisco.
Details are available from this
link.

Announcing NovaTCAD (Oct. 31st 2011; edited Nov. 23rd 2011)

Crosslight is proud to announce the release of
NovaTCAD, a new software package bundle that integrates several powerful TCAD software packages
from Crosslight at an extremely affordable price.

Version 2011 device simulators released (Aug 3rd, 2011)

Crosslight Software proudly announces the release of Version 2011 of Crosslight device simulation software pacakges (APSYS, CSUPREM, LASTIP and PICS3D) with major upgrades making them the most
advanced in the industry. These major upgrades are summarized as follows:

• Polarization charges of nitride materials are implemented
  using an intrinsic macro property and
  are automatically computed between material interfaces
  or within graded regions. This provides great convenience
  in modeling GaN based semiconductors of complicated geometry
  and composition grading or other compounds with built-in polarization.
• Major progress in 3D simulation setup procedure: User may
  start from the .layer format (using the user-friendly GUI LayerBuilder)
  to design the 2D cross section of a device. Then mask data (usually of
  GDS format) may be used to convert the 2D cross section into 3D mesh.
• Major upgrade of GaN-based material macros to incorporate the
  latest understanding of the IQE droop in blue LED. As a result, IQE
  droop as observed in experiments is routinely reproduced in sumulation.
• Introduced an efficient new 3D mesh scheme so that mesh plane
  of any shapes (such as bent shapes)
  no longer has to cut through the whole device simulation area.
  This results in substantial mesh savings when handing devices
  with details of complicated local geometries such as small holes
  or rods. The new mesh has been incorporated into the friendly
  graphic user interface program MaskEditor.
• Substantial speed-up in the computation of quantum states in
  devices with hundreds of quantum wells (such as in QCL and typeII PD).
• New quantum well model with self-consistent solutions
  have been developed for many difference types of applications and device
  configurations, such as for MQW system within nanowire and nanotubes, and LED with
  complex geometries. Refer to our
  LED
  presentation page for details.
• Substantial improvement of non-local transport, optical gain, interband tunneling and
  temperature dependence in quantum cascade lasers and typeII MQW PD.
• More convenient user interface with CSuprem and related GUI tools
  such as MaskEditor and SemiCrafter so that complicated 3D structures can easily
  be created without loss of accuracy as found in devices with plane geometries.
• APSYS: LED raytracing capability enhanced to include multiple
  wavelengths and realistic simulation phosphor LED has been demonstrated.
• APSYS: Substantial improvement in FDTD so that power extraction
  in LED with textured interfaces can be simulated more accurately.
• PICS3D: power coupling between difference cavities, useful for
  ring laser which relies on flexbile control or power flow between cavilites.
• PICS3D: the QCL model from LASTIP is now available in PICS3D.
• Numerous minor improvements of data I/O and plotting.

Crosslight Short Course at NUSOD 2011 (June 27, 2011)

Crosslight is pleased to offer a free half-day short course on optoelectronic
device simulation on Friday, September 9th at the NUSOD conference in Rome.
Details are available from this
link.

New branch office of Crosslight Software opens in Taiwan (Mar 29, 2011)

We are pleased to announce that starting in April 2011, a new Crosslight branch office will be
established in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The new office will be conveniently located in the SiSoft Research
Center, Hsinchu Science Park and will be headed by Mr. Vincent Tsao
(???), a former TCAD manager of UMC.
The Taiwan branch of Crosslight Software will be focused on research and development of advanced
simulation technologies as well as providing first class technical support to
Crosslight Software users in Taiwan. For more details, please visit us at
www.crosslight.com.tw.

Crosslight Short Course at Photonic West 2011 (Jan 6, 2011)

Crosslight is pleased to offer a free half-day short course on optoelectronic
device simulation on Thursday, January 27th at the Photonics West conference in San Francisco.
Details are available from this
link.