(614h) Hydrodynamics of CVD Reactor for Silicon Carbide (SiC) Production Using CFD

This study investigates hydrodynamics of a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor for the production of the silicon carbide (SiC) wafer in the semiconductor industry using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The precursor gases, including trichlorosilane (SiHCl₃), ethylene (C₂H₄), and hydrogen (H₂), were injected into a preheater through 34 nozzles at 700 ^oC and 10,000 Pa. The preheated gas mixture was continuously heated to 1700 ^oC in the reactor zone before approaching a wafer substrate rotating at 50 rpm. The thickness of the SiC crystal layer on the wafer surface was obtained experimentally and the uniformity of the thickness was calculated. The uniformities of velocity, temperature, and gas species concentration were evaluated, which were obtained from CFD results. A close relation between the uniformities and SiC crystal layer thickness was observed. The wafer rotation speed influenced significantly the uniformities of gas velocity and species concentration above the wafer surface. This study provides useful guidelines for designing commercial-scale SiC-CVD reactors in the semiconductor industry.