Thermodynamic Aspects of CVD Crystallization of Refractory Metals and Their Alloys

The low-temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of refractory metals by the hydrogen reduction of their fluorides is known as one of the perspective technique for the production of high quality metallic coatings [1]. The CVD of tungsten has been more extensively studied due to unique combination of its features such as low deposition temperature (750900 K), high growth rate (up to 5 mm/h), a good purity and high density of tungsten deposit [2, 3]. Up to now there is a great interest to CVD tungsten alloys due to their physical-mechanical properties [4, 5]. The thermodynamic analysis of the CVD processes is useful to define the optimal deposition conditions. The understanding of the gas phase phenomena controlling the metals and alloys deposition requires the knowledge of the gaseous mixture composition and surface reaction kinetics which lead to the deposit growth. This chapter contains the calculated and known thermochemical parameters of V, Nb, Ta, Mo, W, Re fluorides, the compositions of gas and solid phases as result of the equilibrium of the hydrogen and fluorides for the metals VB group (V, Nb, Ta ), VIB group (Mo, W), VII group (Re). A particular attention is paid to the theoretical aspects of tungsten alloys crystallization.