Modeling and optimal design of a chemical vapor deposition reactor

The flow dynamics of a homogeneous gas inside a vertical, cylindrical reactor are modeled with a commercially available computational fluid dynamics code. The transport process in chemical vapor deposition are described using conservation of mass, momentum, energy, and mass transfer equations. Navier-Stokes equations for a Newtonian fluid and laminar flow are used to describe the momentum conservation. The buoyancy effect is included in the model through the gravitational term in the momentum equation. The thermal (Soret) effect is included in the model to account for binary diffusion in the presence of large temperature gradients typical of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. Results of a 2-D, steady, axisymmetrical flow are presented using a finite element method with non-uniform Cartesian meshes. The formulation of the optimal reactor design problem for CVD is discussed.< >