An Analysis of the Gas-Flow Dynamics in a Horizontal CVD Reactor

The epitaxial growth of silicon by chemical-vapor deposition (CVD) techniques has become an important process for the production of a variety of solid state device structures. Because of the commercial importance of silicon, the fundamental aspects of the deposition process have been studied in some detail. There is an abundant amount of literature available to the reader concerning many aspects of the CVD process, such as chemical kinetics, reactor design, and hydrodynamic conditions and their effects. The reactor design most amenable to CVD research is the horizontal epitaxial system. The horizontal reactor is simple to construct and modify for experimental purposes, it is clean from a semiconductor purity standpoint, and the operation is reasonably efficient. Horizontal epitaxial reactors are a popular choice for the reasons given; but this is not to say that the horizontal reactor is necessarily the best choice for large-volume production of a specific epitaxial product. A schematic representation of a horizontal epitaxial system is shown in Figure 7.1.