Narrow Results

A numerical study is needed to gain insight into the growth mechanism and improve the reactor design or optimize the deposition condition in chemical vapor deposition (CVD). In this study, we have performed a numerical analysis of the deposition of gallium arsenide (GaAs) from trimethyl gallium (TMG) and arsine in a vertical CVD reactor. The effects of operating parameters, such as the rotation velocity of susceptor, inlet velocity, and inlet TMG fraction, are investigated and presented. The three-dimensional model which is used in this investigation includes complete coupling between the thermal-fluid transport and species transport with chemical reaction.

Differential evolution (DE) has been widely used on chemical engineering problems. It is a simple, efficient and robust technique, which can be used for optimization of nonlinear and complicated mathematical models resulting from mass and energy balances combined with intricate thermodynamic and other auxiliary equations. Besides, considerable effort has been made to optimize reactor operating conditions by means of DE. This chapter aims to provide an overview on the application of DE in chemical reaction engineering. At first, DE algorithm is explained and different aspects of reactor and kinetic modeling are introduced. Afterwards, key decision variables and objective functions are discussed in detail. Based on the previous publications, the decision variable section is divided into temperature, pressure, flow rate, membrane thickness, reactor size, feed concentration and kinetic parameters. This review summarizes the main aspects of using DE in chemical reaction engineering, providing an overview for future researchers.