A new susceptor with a partial-torus groove in the vertical metal organic vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactor by induction heating is presented. By using the finite element method (FEM), it is found that this groove changes the mode of the heat transfer in the susceptor. That is to say, the single mode of the heat conduction in the conventional susceptor is changed to the modes combining the heat conduction and the radiation. By optimizing this susceptor for heating 8-inch substrate, it is observed that compared with the conventional susceptor, the uniformity of the temperature distribution is improved more than 83%. The uniformity of the temperature distribution in the substrate is significantly improved, which will be of benefit to the film growth. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.