The effect of thermophoresis on particle deposition in a tungsten low pressure chemical vapor deposition reactor

Thermophoresis has a direct impact on the amount of particulate deposition on the substrate due to the temperature gradients present near the substrat e in a chemical vapor deposition reactor. The effect of thermophoresis on t he particle transport and deposition in the reactor is predicted and verifi ed experimentally. Different particle concentrations and sizes are consider ed. In addition, the motion of these particles according to the thermal gra dients in the reactor is examined. The numerical and experimental results s how that the particle deposition on the wafer decreases exponentially as th e wafer temperature increases or the showerhead temperature decreases. (C) 1999 The Electrochemical Society. S0013-4651(98)11-040-6. All rights reserv ed.