Analysis and modelling of plasma enhanced CVD reactors. I. Two-dimensional treatment of a-Si:H deposition

To limit to a minimum the number of a priori hypotheses in the development of a numerical model of a-Si:H deposition plasma reactors from silane, a two-dimensional treatment of transport phenomena and chemical reactions has been selected and coupled to a one-dimensional treatment of electron-molecule interactions. The results have been compared with a set of experimental data giving the deposition rate profile as well as the gas phase composition in the exit stream. While the agreement is satisfactory for the deposition rate, some discrepancies between calculated and experimental gas concentrations call for additional investigations.