About Aestimo 1D

Aestimo is a one-dimensional semiconductor heterostructure simulator intended for education and research. Sefer Bora Lisesivdin started the project in early 2012; Robert Steed, Hamza Hebal and other contributors developed it further.

A structure is represented by layers and spatially varying material parameters along the growth direction. Schrödinger–Poisson calculations connect confined carrier states with the electrostatic potential. Drift–diffusion routes extend the calculation to carrier transport. The desktop GUI supplies project editing and device workflows alongside the Python and command-line interfaces.

What the calculation represents

The growth-direction model resolves a one-dimensional layer profile. It does not resolve arbitrary lateral device geometry. Input material parameters, boundary conditions, mesh spacing and the selected solver determine what a result means. Matching a device preset name is insufficient to establish agreement with a measurement.

Calculations can resolve conduction-band electron and valence-band hole states, carrier densities, electric fields, strain and quantum confinement. Available methods depend on the selected solver: see Models and materials.

Who can use it?

Students can start from a complete example, change a layer width or composition, and inspect how the band profile and confined states respond. Researchers can adapt the source and material database, keeping track of units, convergence and model assumptions. Basic Python knowledge is useful for modifying input scripts.

• Install Aestimo

• Run a first calculation

• Use the desktop GUI

• Read the tutorials

• Authors and contributors

Citing Aestimo

Please cite the project paper in scientific work using Aestimo:

H. Hebal, Z. Koziol, S. B. Lisesivdin and R. Steed, “General-purpose open-source 1D self-consistent Schrödinger–Poisson Solver: Aestimo 1D”, Computational Materials Science 186, 110015 (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.commatsci.2020.110015.

Also record the actual Aestimo version or commit, input structure, material parameters and numerical controls used in the calculation. The project paper predates the current GUI and does not describe every later device workflow.

See Publications for research using or citing Aestimo.

License and documentation credits

Aestimo’s source code is licensed under the GNU GPL v3 or later; see COPYING.md. The documentation retains the manual’s Copyright (C) 2013–2020 Aestimo group notice and its GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 reuse terms. Contributor credits are listed in Authors.