CAD Approach to Control High-Temperature Processes in SiC Technology

Abstract

Manufacturing silicon carbide semiconductor devices may require high-temperature treatment in closed graphite reactors. This makes temperature control of processed SiC substrates difficult, since their temperature cannot be measured directly. As the monitoring of the SiC sample temperature is critically important for proper process flow, an indirect method involving the use of the CAD approach has been developed. A numerical model of a furnace reactor was created on the basis of the commercial ANSYS package, allowing for the simulation of thermal fields under given heat-dissipation conditions in the modeled area and in the presence of gaseous and liquid media participating in heat exchange and transport. Obtained simulation results remain very consistent with the reference temperature measurements of selected areas of the reactor. The model acts as an accurate tool for temperature distribution verification during the high-temperature annealing of and diffusion of dopants for silicon carbide.