Chemical Vapor Deposition Techniques

Abstract

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is one of the few deposition processes in which the deposited phase is produced in situ via chemical reaction(s). Thus the vapor source for CVD can consist of high vapor pressure species at moderate temperatures and yet deposit very high-melting phases. For example, pure TiB2, which melts at 3225°C, can be produced at 900°C from TiCl4, BC13, and H2.Chemical vapor deposition and its variants such as low pressure CVD (LPCVD), plasma-assisted CVD (PACVD), and laser CVD (LCVD) have been active areas of research for many years. Recent review articles have contained extensive lists of the phases deposited by CVD, which include most of the metals and many carbides, nitrides, borides, silicides, and sulfides. The techniques have found increased acceptance as commercial methods for the fabrication of films and coatings which are fundamental to the semiconductor device and the high-performance tool bit industries. They have been used to prepare multiphase-multilayer coatings, stand-alone bodies, and fiber-reinforced composites. As the demand increases for more complex and sophisticated materials, it is expected that CVD will play a still larger role.In CVD a solid material is deposited from gaseous precursors onto a substrate. The substrate is typically heated to promote the deposition reaction and/or provide sufficient mobility of the adatoms to form the desired structure. Chemical vapor deposition was performed for the first time when early humans inadvertently coated cooking utensils with soot from the campfire. In this CVD process, hydrocarbons generated by the heated wood pyrolyzed on the utensil surface, depositing carbon.