A mathematical model of the coupled fluid mechanics and chemical kinetics in a chemical vapour deposition reactor

We describe a numerical model of the coupled gas-phase hydrodynamics and chemical kinetics in a silicon chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor. The model, which includes a 20-step elementary reaction mechanism for the thermal decomposition of silane, predicts gas-phase temperature, velocity, and chemical species concentration profiles. It also predicts ilicon deposition rates at the heated reactor wall as a function of susceptor temperature, carrier gas, pressure, and flow velocity. We find excellent agreement with experimental deposition rates, with no adjustment of parameters. The model indicates that g s-phase chemical kinetic processes are important in describing silicon CVD. The chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of solid materials is an important method for producing solid films with high purity and uniformity. Some important applications of CVD include the manufacture of microelectronic de-vices and silicon solar cells. Even though CVD has wide-spread use, a fundamental understanding of the interplay among its constituent elements i missing. A unified the-oretical picture of CVD requires input from the fields o