External Plots

1. Overview

External quantities represent electrical values measured at the device contacts or within the surrounding circuit, rather than inside the semiconductor device. These quantities include terminal voltages, currents, charges, and other circuit‑level metrics produced during a device or circuit simulation. External quantities capture how the device interacts with the outside world. They form the basis of terminal‑level analysis such as I–V curves, transfer characteristics, switching performance, and transient response.

External quantities can be visualised using two plot types:

• External Plot, for non‑transient data such as steady‑state I–V curves.
• Transient Plot, for time‑dependent results such as voltage or current vs. time transient simulations.

note

Transient plots are only available for transient type result (.res) files.

2. Quantities Available for Visualisation

Below is a complete list of the external quantities that can be plotted within Aquarius.

Name	Description	Units
Voltage	Electrostatic potential at the evaluated point.	V
Electron Current	Electron current magnitude at the evaluated location.	A
Hole Current	Hole current magnitude at the evaluated location.	A
Total Current	Combined electron and hole current.	A
Poisson Residual	Residual of the Poisson equation.	-
Thermal Flux Power	Power associated with thermal energy transport at the evaluated location, derived from the local thermal flux in the TCAD simulation.	W
Electron Flux Power	Power carried by the electron flux at the evaluated location, representing the rate of energy transport due to electron motion in the TCAD simulation.	W