EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY AND NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF HYDRODYNAMICS AND HEAT-TRANSFER IN A COLD-WALL CVD REACTOR

A mathematical model including the NAVIER-STOKES and energy partial differential equations has been developed to predict the flow and temperature fields in a cold-wall CVD reactor. Particular attention is placed on understanding and explaining the influence of pressure on the hydrodynamics and heat transfer in the reactor. In order to validate the model predictions in the thermal aspect we used holographic interferometry to investigate the temperature gradients and to examine the thermal boundary layer thickness for several reactor inlet conditions. The comparison between the model predictions and experimental data shows good agreement.