Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Kuczmarski, M. A.

Publications and source records attributed to Kuczmarski, M. A..

A kinetic and equilibrium analysis of silicon carbide chemical vapor deposition on monofilaments

Chemical kinetics of atmospheric pressure silicon carbide (SiC) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from dilute silane and propane source gases in hydrogen is numerically analyzed in a cylindrical upflow reactor designed for CVD on monofilaments. The chemical composition of the SiC deposit is assessed both from the calculated total fluxes of carbon and silicon and from chemical equilibrium considerations for the prevailing temperatures and species concentrations at and along the filament surface. The effects of gas and surface chemistry on the evolution of major gas phase species are considered in the analysis.

Gokoglu, S. A.↗

Modeling of the SiC chemical vapor deposition process and comparison with experimental results

A model of the NASA Lewis SiC CVD process is described, and the results presented. A key feature of the model is the direct coupling of gas-phase chemical kinetics with diffusion. A deposition chemistry model using reactive sticking coefficients for each gas-phase species provides the diffusion boundary conditions. SiC deposition rates predicted by the model agree reasonably well with experimentally observed rates.

Annen, K. D.↗

Convection and chemistry effects in CVD: A 3-D analysis for silicon deposition

The computational fluid dynamics code FLUENT has been adopted to simulate the entire rectangular-channel-like (3-D) geometry of an experimental CVD reactor designed for Si deposition. The code incorporated the effects of both homogeneous (gas phase) and heterogeneous (surface) chemistry with finite reaction rates of important species existing in silane dissociation. The experiments were designed to elucidate the effects of gravitationally-induced buoyancy-driven convection flows on the quality of the grown Si films. This goal is accomplished by contrasting the results obtained from a carrier gas mixture of H2/Ar with the ones obtained from the same molar mixture ratio of H2/He, without any accompanying change in the chemistry. Computationally, these cases are simulated in the terrestrial gravitational field and in the absence of gravity. The numerical results compare favorably with experiments. Powerful computational tools provide invaluable insights into the complex physicochemical phenomena taking place in CVD reactors. Such information is essential for the improved design and optimization of future CVD reactors.

Gokoglu, S. A.↗

Improved beta-SiC heteroepitaxial films using off-axis Si substrates

All beta-SiC films grown using on-axis (001) Si substrates that have been examined with transmission electron microscopy exhibit a high density of interfacial twins, stacking faults, and antiphase disorder. The antiphase boundaries can be decorated by chemical etching, sputter etching, wet oxidation, and beta-SiC growth in the presence of diborane. All traces of antiphase disorder are eliminated when the heteroepitaxial growth is carried out on vicinal (001) Si substrates that are tilted 2 deg about a 110-line axis. In addition, growth on the off-axis Si produces beta-SiC films that are significantly smoother than on-axis films. The density of stacking faults is apparently unaffected by growth on the off-axis substrates.

Powell, J. A.↗