Modeling of convective plasma flow in high pressure microwave PACVD diamond reactors

摘要

Microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (PACVD) reactors have been used extensively for the growth of synthetic diamond. Simulations of such reactors have been developed in order to aid in the testing of new designs and parameters. Since this type of diamond growth has historically been carried out at relatively low pressures (less than 100 Torr), the plasma transport properties have been approximated as purely diffusive. However, recent experiments citing numerous advantages of growing at higher pressures (100–300 Torr) have suggested this approximation to be insufficient. Thus, a more advanced transport model accurately predicting complex convective plasma flows is required.