CVD process engineering : modelling aspects

Abstract
After a long period of time during which CVD industrial reactors have been developed only by empirical ways, theoretical analysis and modeling of their behavior have opened new possibilities for practicing engineers. These new methods are discussed in details in the paper with a particular emphasis on the analysis of chemical phenomena, as well in the gas phase as on surfaces, and a discussion of the advantages and drawbacks of several reactors in use in the microelectronics industries. The main limitations of CVD modeling and numerical simulation are first that such a procedure cannot be used when the corresponding chemistry is too complex and, second, that it provides no information on the deposits structure and properties. As a consequence, the paper ends by a discussion on the organization of the unavoidable experiments in the design procedure of a particular equipment and its operating conditions.