Modeling CMOS PIN photodiode using COMSOL

Modeling semiconductor devices has become mandatory in most challenging research activity. Finding a powerful tool that models these devices represents a goal of these users. In this work, Silicon PIN photodiode is designed using complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) Technology. COMSOL Multiphysics is the selected challenging tool for simulation and characterization of this design. The adjustment of the proposed model as well as the different outputs like Electric field and Electric potential distribution, I–V characteristics and other parameters are presented. The output current has shown an allure of a current that consists of three regions: Trap-Assisted Tunneling, Band-to-Band Tunneling and avalanche. These current regions in addition to the high value (10⁵ V/cm) of the obtained electric field are typical for Silicon Avalanche Photodiodes (SiAPD). The possibility to use this tool for SiAPD analysis and simulation is therefore discussed.