An efficient parallel iteration method for multiscale analysis of chemical vapor deposition processes

A fixed point type iteration method is applied for coupling multiple length scales in Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) processes. A Reactor Scale Model (RSM), used for the description of the macro-scale in the bulk phase of a CVD reactor, is coupled with a Feature Scale Model (FSM), used for the description of the topography evolution of the micro-scale features (e.g. trenches) on the deposition wafer. The coupling of the RSM with the FSM is performed by the correction of the boundary condition for the chemical species consumption along the wafer. The pre-exponential factor for the expression of the surface reaction rate is corrected through the fixed point iteration method. The convergence of the iterative scheme is numerically studied in terms of the initial guess for the solution and of different surface reaction rate expressions. Furthermore, the time consuming computations in the micro-scale are efficiently treated by using a master–worker parallel technique and Message Passing Interface (MPI). Results for the achieved speedup are presented.