Opening the Pandora's jar of molecule‐to‐material conversion in chemical vapor deposition: Insights from theory

First-principles modeling can be a powerful tool for the understanding and optimization of bottom-up processes for nanomaterials fabrication, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), a key technology for the development of advanced systems and devices. Molecule-to-material conversion by CVD involves complex chemical phenomena, which are often obscure and still largely unexplored. A proper modeling would require high level of accuracy, large sized models and should include both temperature effects and statistical sampling of reactive events. By presenting a few selected examples, this perspective surveys such problems and discusses currently available approaches for their solution. Possible strategies for future advances in the field are also highlighted. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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