Analysis of Heat Transfer in a Chemical Vapor Deposition Reactor: An Eigenfunction Expansion Solution Approach

Abstract

A numerical solution procedure combining several weighted residual methods and based on global trial function expansion is developed to solve a model for the steady state gas flow field and temperature distribution in a low-pressure chemical vapor deposition reactor. The enthalpy flux across the wafer/gas boundary is calculated explicitly and is found to vary significantly as a function of wafer position. An average heat transfer coefficient is estimated numerically and is compared to typical radiative heat transfer rates in the system. The convergence properties of the discretization method developed also are discussed.