TCAD analysis of breakdown during voltage sweep in a carbon nanofiber (CNF) interconnect

Allotropes to graphene, carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are one of many potential materials for consideration in next generation devices. Because of their high thermal and electrical conductivity they are ideal for use as interconnects. The purpose of this work is to develop a technology computer-aided design (TCAD) device model to recreate the experiments by the Santa Clara University (SCU) [1] concerning the breakdown of CNF interconnect devices as shown in Figure 2. Regarding the modeling efforts, all existing models are 1D and static. To the best of the authors´ knowledge, this would be the first attempt to make a 2D model of a CNF structure and analyze joule heating breakdown. The simulation of the CNF records how the device heats and cools as the voltage increases. The experimental data used various structure configurations created in TCAD.