Combined reactor, wafer, and feature scale simulation of selective silicon epitaxial growth

A combined approach to the modeling of selective epitaxial silicon growth (SEG) is presented. The simulations consider the following effects: reactor fluid dynamics, gas chemistry, mass transport in the stagnant layer, and device profile evolution. Reactor-scale, wafer-scale and feature-scale simulations are used to model these mechanisms which have a wide range of physical dimensions. Experiments to identify the effects of HCl on silicon growth rates have been performed. The experimental results show that the main effect of HCl is modulation of reactant gas composition, and they provide the rate constants necessary to simulate local loading effects in the stagnant layer simulation.<>