Simulation, design and optimization of chemical vapor deposition systems for advanced materials

Recent advances in material processing techniques and increasing international competition has created a need for fundamental understanding, design and optimization of new engineering systems. One such process is the Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) of advanced materials. The CVD process is widely used in industry for the fabrication of microelectronic circuits, optical and magnetic recording media, optical devices, and high performance cutting and grinding tools, to name a few. An experimental and numerical investigation is undertaken to investigate the design and optimization of the CVD process for the manufacturing of silicon and titanium nitride thin films. The experimental work consists of studying thermally induced buoyancy flow structures and conjugate heat transfer in a horizontal CVD reactor. A custom compressible finite volume model with conjugate heat transfer modeling, a boundary-fitted grid transformation and variable transport properties is used to study multiple species heterogeneous chemical reactions and film deposition in arbitrary reactor geometries with a continuously moving deposition surface. The numerical model is used in conjunction with experiments to refine and optimize the CVD process.