Simulation-based design and analysis of advanced CVD reactor systems

The paper discussed the development of a simulator for the Programmable CVD Reactor system using the modular simulation approach. The design of the Programmable Reactor lends itself very naturally to a modular approach because of the segmented showerhead design while each segment is a fairly complex component, with individually controllable reactant gas supply and residual gas exhaust, the design of each segment is identical. Using the modular simulation framework we developed, a new simulation can be constructed relatively easily through the integration of user selected modular components. A key advantage of this approach is that it allows the rapid replacement of individual simulator elements, making it possible to easily assess modeling assumptions and the relative importance of the elements that make up a complete simulation. We show how simulation gives insight into the operation of this CVD reactor quantifying the relative importance of different precursor transport and reaction mechanisms inside this reactor system. The modular-based approach offers great flexibility to rearrange the segment relative positions in the simulation, which facilitates the study of different reactor design and makes it easy to validate different models and reaction mechanisms. The effects of operating parameters tuning can also be rapidly determined through the simulation. * Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]