Technology CAD (or Technology Computer Aided Design, or TCAD) is a
branch of electronic design automation that models semiconductor
fabrication and semiconductor device operation. The modeling of the
fabrication is termed Process TCAD, while the modeling of the
device operation is termed Device TCAD. Included are the modelling
of process steps (such as diffusion and ion implantation), and
modelling of the behavior of the electrical devices based on
fundamental physics, such as the doping profiles of the devices.
TCAD may also include the creation of compact models (such as the
well known SPICE transistor models), which try to capture the
electrical behavior of such devices but do not generally derive
them from the underlying physics. (However, the SPICE simulator
itself is usually considered as part of ECAD rather than TCAD.)
