Rotating-disk CVD reactor

The rotating-disk CVD reactor (Fig. 1) can be used to deposit thin films in the fabrication of microelectronic components. The susceptor on which the deposition occurs is heated (typically around lOOOK) and rotated (speeds around 1000 rpm). A boundary layer is formed as the gas is drawn in a swirling motion across the spinning, heated susceptor. In spite of its three-dimensional nature, a peculiar property of this flow is that, in the absence of buoyant forces and geometrical constraints, the species and temperature gradients normal to the disk are the same everywhere on the disk. Consequently, the deposition is highly uniform - an especially desirable property when the deposition is on a microelectronic substrate. 

Figure 6. Species profiles in a rotating disk CVD reactor. Inlet gas is 0.1 percent silane in a carrier of 99.9 percent helium. The disk temperature is 1000 K and the spin rate is 1000 rpm.

In the previous problem we examined temperature profiles and reactant (SiH4) concentration profiles in a channel-flow chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor. At sufficiently high temperatures (and pressures) SM4 undergoes unimolecular decomposition into the species SiH2 and H2. This is followed by numerous reactions of the intermediate species [180]. One such intermediate species formed in the gas phase is Si (i.e., a gas-phase silicon atom). In this problem we consider the gas-phase formation and destruction reactions governing the spatial profiles of Si atoms in a rotating-disk CVD reactor. 

Figure 8. Species profiles in a rotating-disk CVD reactor. Inlet gas is 0.1% silane in carrier of 99.9% helium. The disk temperature is 1000 K and the spin rate is 1000 rpm. Reprinted with permission from R. J. Kee, G. H. Evans, and M. E. Coltrin in Supercomputer Research in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (K. F. Jensen and D. G. Truhlar, eds.), p. 334. ACS Symposium Series 353, American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., 1987 [31]. Copyright 1987 American Chemical Society.

Cold wall reactors are the other major category of CVD reactors. In such systems, the substrates are heated but the walls are cooled. Figure 9 shows an example of a cold wall rotating disk CVD reactor.This system has water-cooled quartz walls, with a rotating holder for (silicon or compound semiconductor) wafers that is resistively heated from below. Other commercial cold-wall reactors include lamp heated single-wafer reactors that are widely used in microelectronics fabrication, and inductively heated horizontal flow reactors. Cold-wall reactors are often run at relatively high pressures, several hundred torr to atmospheric total... 

Fig. 9 Schematic diagram of a cold-wall rotating disk CVD reactor used for depositing thin films on semiconductor wafers.

Vertical CVD Reactors. Models of vertical reactors fall into two broad groups. In the first group, the flow field is assumed to be described by the one-dimensional similarity solution to one of the classical axisymmetric flows rotating-disk flow, impinging-jet flow, or stagnation point flow (222). A detailed chemical mechanism is included in the model. In the second category, the finite dimension of the susceptor and the presence of the reactor walls are included in a detailed treatment of axisymmetric flow phenomena, including inertia- and buoyancy-driven recirculations, whereas the chemical mechanism is simplified to a few surface and gas-phase reactions. 

---