Surface modification of nanoparticles has attracted much attention owing to its superior ability to design nanoparticles with unique physical, chemical, or biological properties. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has shown great promise in the precise surface decoration of nanoparticles. However, the large surface area of nanoparticles requires a large quantity of precursors, and the nonuniform interstitials among the particles limit the precursor diffusion and lead to long process times. Fluidized bed reactors (FBRs) have been proven applicable for ALD on nanoparticles owing to its high gas–solid interactions and potential scalability for practical production. The ALD process in a fluidized bed is sophisticated and with many variables, resulting in long and tedious process optimization through substantial experimental trials. In this paper, the ALD process in a FBR-ALD is investigated through mechanistic modeling using computational fluid dynamics and theoretical calculations of molecular flow diffusion. The result shows that the minimum pulse time and the precursor waste are inversely proportional to the increase in precursor mass fraction. The optimal precursor utilization is obtained under the minimum fluidizing velocity. Because the fluid kinetics is independent of the specific structure, the mechanistic modeling study is instructive for the process optimization of FBR-ALD.
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January 2017
Research Article|
October 13 2016
Mechanistic modeling study of atomic layer deposition process optimization in a fluidized bed reactor
Chen-Long Duan;
Chen-Long Duan
State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, School of Mechanical Science and Engineering,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
, 1037 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People's Republic of China
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Peng-Hui Zhu;
Peng-Hui Zhu
State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, School of Mechanical Science and Engineering,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
, 1037 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People's Republic of China
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Zhang Deng;
Zhang Deng
State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, School of Mechanical Science and Engineering,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
, 1037 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People's Republic of China
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Yun Li;
Yun Li
State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, School of Mechanical Science and Engineering,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
, 1037 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People's Republic of China
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Bin Shan;
Bin Shan
School of Materials Science and Engineering,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
, 1037 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People's Republic of China
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Hai-Sheng Fang;
Hai-Sheng Fang
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
, 1037 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People's Republic of China
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Guang Feng;
Guang Feng
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
, 1037 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People's Republic of China
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Rong Chen
Rong Chen
a)
State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, School of Optical and Electronic Information,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
, 1037 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People's Republic of China
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a)
Electronic mail: rongchen@mail.hust.edu.cn
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 35, 01B102 (2017)
Article history
Received:
July 08 2016
Accepted:
September 26 2016
Citation
Chen-Long Duan, Peng-Hui Zhu, Zhang Deng, Yun Li, Bin Shan, Hai-Sheng Fang, Guang Feng, Rong Chen; Mechanistic modeling study of atomic layer deposition process optimization in a fluidized bed reactor. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 1 January 2017; 35 (1): 01B102. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4964848
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