A NEW REACTOR FOR PURELY HOMOGENEOUS KINETIC-STUDIES OF ENDOTHERMIC REACTIONS

A new counterflow jet reactor has been designed to study the purely ho mogeneous kinetics of endothermic reactions. The reactor consists of t wo vertical, coaxial, counterflowing, laminar jets and a radial-flow e xit region. It can be used to generate a reaction zone near the stagna tion point and away from walls, thus eliminating the possibility of su rface reactions. One jet is heated and contains only a suitable carrie r gas such as hydrogen and nitrogen, while the other is unheated and c ontains the compound(s) under study diluted in the same carrier gas. A 2-D model of the process has been used to simulate the thermal decomp osition of tertiary-butyl-arsine, a precursor for metal-organic chemic al vapor deposition of GaAs films. Performance diagrams based on Reyno lds and Damkohler numbers were constructed to identify optimal operati ng conditions and to demonstrate the feasibility of the technique. Thi s reactor appears to be an attractive choice for studies of the purely homogeneous kinetics of endothermic reactions at pressures close to a tmospheric.