Multi-physics modeling of a microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition reactor for diamond growth

A multi-physics numerical simulation was developed for simulating the operation of a Microwave Plasma-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (MPACVD) reactor for synthetic diamond growth. The major components of the simulation included a finite-difference frequency domain (FDFD) electromagnetic simulation; a steady-state plasma simulation (including the electron energy balance and continuity equations); a time-dependent plasma convection simulation; and a temperature profile routine; all coupled together in a self-consistent loop. Global solution convergence was calculated as the total absolute difference in absorbed power between successive global iterations. Simulation results, and comparisons between experimental results these will be presented at the time of the conference.