3-d thermal and flow modeling of hot wall epitaxial chemical vapor deposition reactors, heated by induction

A three dimensional computational model for temperature and flow predictions in hot wall chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactors, heated by induction, is presented. It includes heating by a Radio Frequency (RF) coil, flow and heat transfer. Thermal radiation is modeled by a modified Monte Carlo method. Model predictions are compared to full scale experiments at Linkoping CVD reactor for epitaxial growth of silicon carbide (SIC). Both streamwise and spanwise temperature gradients are well predicted, with the temperature maximum location shifted slightly upstream compared to the measured. Additionally, the model succeeds in predicting a recirculation zone just downstream of the susceptor. It is demonstrated how thermal gradients can be greatly reduced by simple geometrical changes.