A simulation and experimental study of the parasitic reaction and flow field in the growth of metal–oxide films

Abstract

Metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) is an important method for growing metal–oxide semiconductor films. However, owing to problems associated with gas-phase parasitic reactions and wall deposition, this method achieves low growth efficiency and affects the film quality. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been widely used in MOCVD research and can be employed to investigate the flow field and the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process in the reactor. In this study, considering the growth of zinc oxide and indium oxide as examples, a four-step reaction mechanism is proposed based on a combination of the multi-step reaction mechanism and experimental results. The effect of chemical reactions on the film growth rate is studied based on the Arrhenius plot and experimental results. A new flow stability map is proposed, and the flow field stability under different pressures is investigated to explore the influence of the flow field on the film growth rate. Results show that the deposition rate is influenced by both the gas-phase parasitic reactions and the effect of the flow field on the source component distribution. Furthermore, the causes and factors influencing sidewall deposition are revealed.