Research Abstracts Online
2008 - March 2009
Minnesota State University, Mankato
College of Science, Engineering, and Technology
Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering
PI: Patrick A. Tebbe
Three-dimensional Study of Asymmetric and Unsteady Convection in Physical Vapor Transport
The physical vapor transport (PVT) process is used to produce certain specialty semiconductor materials, such as mercury iodide or mercurous chloride. Product quality is dependent on achieving a uniform growth rate at the crystalline surface. The growth rate is in turn influenced by a complex combination of thermal, fluid, and chemical phenomena.
The overall objective of this research is to examine the asymmetric and unsteady convection patterns that result in the PVT process and determine the influence they have on product quality. While the process is inherently three-dimensional and time varying, numerical studies have been largely limited to two-dimensional or steady-state approximations because of computational limitations on convention computer hardware. This project uses the supercomputers to benchmark a three-dimensional, transient PVT model. This model will duplicate a two-dimensional case that demonstrates convective oscillations. These results will be compared to results on other hardware and software systems to determine the influence of numerical truncation in the results.
Corey Thibeault, Graduate Student