Susceptor

High process temperatures generally not achievable by other means are possible when induction heating of a graphite susceptor is combined with the use of low conductivity high temperature insulation such as flake carbon interposed between the coil and the susceptor. Temperatures of 3000°C are routine for both batch or continuous production. Processes include purification, graphitization, chemical vapor deposition, or carbon vapor deposition to produce components for the aircraft and defense industry. Figure 7 illustrates a furnace suitable for the production of aerospace brake components in a batch operation. 

Catalysis can sometimes be improved through the use of microwaves, particularly pulsed microwaves (172). An important component of this process is beheved to be an appropriate metallized combination catalyst—susceptor (173). Microwave catalysis is an active area of research (174). 

Figure 2.10. Control of deposition uniformity in a tubular reactor (a) susceptor parallel to gas flow, (b) titled susceptor.

These models are designed to define the complex entrance effects and convection phenomena that occur in a reactor and solve the complete equations of heat, mass balance, and momentum. They can be used to optimize the design parameters of a CVD reactor such as susceptor geometry, tilt angle, flow rates, and others. To obtain a complete and thorough analysis, these models should be complemented with experimental observations, such as the flow patterns mentioned above and in situ diagnostic, such as laser Raman spectroscopy. 

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 3. Relationship of susceptor temperature to spin rate that is required to operate a particular reactor geometry in the one-dimensional regime.

Reactor wall thermal boundary conditions can have a strong effect on the gas flow and thus the deposition. Here, for example, we indicate how cooling the reactor walls can enhance deposition uniformity. We consider the results of three simulations comparing the effects of two different wall boundary conditions. Figure 4 shows how the ratio of the computed susceptor heat flux to the onedimensional heat flux varies with the disk radius for the different conditions (the Nusselt number Nu is a dimensionless surface heat flux). In two cases the reactor walls are held at 300 K (0 = 0), and in one case the walls are insulated ( 0/ r —... 

Consider first the cases where the mixed-convection parameter, Gr/VR , equals 6.4. When the reactor walls are insulated, the susceptor heat flux is clearly not uniform, especially over the outer half of the disk. However, when the walls are cooled (all other conditions being the same) the heat flux is highly uniform and agrees with the one-dimensional result. Furthermore, with the cool walls, the mixed-convection parameter can even be increased (shown here... 

Figure 4. The effect of wall cooling on susceptor heat flux uniformity.

Even though the susceptor surface is solid, there is a bulk fluid velocity into the surface that accounts for the mass of solids that are deposited. 

A typical computation such as the ones described here used about 100 adaptively placed mesh points and required about 5 minutes on a Cray 1-S. Of course, larger reaction mechanisms take more time. Also, simpler transport models can be used to reduce computation time. Since the solution methods are iterative, the computer time for a certain simulation can be reduced by starting it from the solution of a related problem. For example, it may be efficient to determine the solution to a problem with a susceptor temperature of 900 K starting from a converged solution for a reactor with a susceptor temperature of 1000 K. In fact, it is typical to compute families of solutions by this type of continuation procedure. 

Figure 7. Net silicon deposition rates as a function of susceptor temperature for both hydrogen and helium as the carrier gas. Rotation rate is 1000 rpm.

The vertical reactor simulations reported In this paper typically Involved 14,000 unknowns and took 25 CPU seconds per Newton Iteration on a Cray-2. The tracing of a complete family of solutions for one parameter (e.g. susceptor temperature) cost approximately 25 CPU minutes. The latter number underscores the advantage of using supercomputers to understand the structure of the solution space for physical problems which often Involve many parameters. 

A vertical CVD reactor (cf. Figure lb) consists of an axlsymmetrlc enclosure with the deposition surface perpendicular to the Incoming gas stream. The reactant gases are typically Introduced at the top and fiow down towards the heated susceptor. Thus, the least dense gas Is closest to the growth Interface which destabilizes the fiow. The result Is recirculation cells which Introduce not only film thickness and composition variations but also broaden Junctions between layers. This Is particularly of... 

Because of nonlinear Interactions between buoyancy, viscous and Inertia terms multiple stable flow fields may exist for the same parameter values as also predicted by Kusumoto et al (M.). The bifurcations underlying this phenomenon may be computed by the techniques described In the numerical analysis section. The solution structure Is Illustrated In Figure 7 In terms of the Nusselt number (Nu, a measure of the growth rate) for varying Inlet flow rate and susceptor temperature. Here the Nusselt number Is defined as ... 

Figure 6. Effect of susceptor rotation speeds on Isotherms, flow streamlines and relative deposition rates of GaAs (a) zero rpm, (b) 1200 rpm, (c) 2400 rpm The absolute growth rates vary as 1.0 (a) 4.0 (b) 4.7 (c).

Figure 7. Reduced Nusselt number for mass transfer to the substrate In a vertical reactor for varying Inlet flow rate and susceptor temperature.

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