Modelling of Magnetron Sputtering for High Value Manufacturing (MOMS4HVM)
Lead Research Organisation:
The Open University
Department Name: Faculty of Sci, Tech, Eng & Maths (STEM)
Abstract
Many engineering components such as of a bearings or a blades or valve parts or electronic circuits are given a special
surface treatment to improve performance for example with respect to wear or lubrication or biocompatibility or electronic
properties. These surface coatings are often be extremely thin, being less than the diameter of a human hair. The goal of
this project is to develop an innovative model of a manufacturing process that applies thin film coatings to complex
engineering components using one of the processes known as physical vapour deposition. This is carried out in large
'vacuum vessels' at low pressure and the coating is created by creating a shower of atoms dislodged from a target surface
onto the engineering substrate. The specific process investigated here is called sputtering and it uses energetic charged
particles to bombard the target. With applications across the engineering sector advanced coatings & surface engineering
is worth more than £10.8B in direct UK turnover. Surface engineering as a whole, supports UK products worth around
£144B.
At the heart of the sputtering process is an ionized gas or plasma. This electrically conducting medium provides the selfsustaining
environment that transfers atoms of a target material and onto the chosen substrate. Targets are expensive and
target utilization is an issue. So we need a way to design a sputtering process for any given engineering component that
can be done in software avoiding the expense and delay of modifying equipment and coatings by trial and error. We plan
to develop a design tool that can be implemented in numerical simulation software running on a desktop computer in a
pragmatic time for design usage. It will accurately predict coating quality, distribution & target wear in complex industrial
coating equipment treating relevant, 3-D high value components. This numerical approach combines finite element & ray
tracing methods, producing a self-consistent multi-physics model for magnetic & electric fields, plasma & surface physics. It
takes into account the atomistic aspects of the plasma and surface (sputtering) processes within the macroscopic model.
Our contribution to this project is in the form of laboratory expertise and knowledge about low pressure non-equilibrium
plasmas. This will be combined with the modelling expertise of Cobham, the coating expertise of Teer Coatings Ltd and
needs of the surface engineering sector.
surface treatment to improve performance for example with respect to wear or lubrication or biocompatibility or electronic
properties. These surface coatings are often be extremely thin, being less than the diameter of a human hair. The goal of
this project is to develop an innovative model of a manufacturing process that applies thin film coatings to complex
engineering components using one of the processes known as physical vapour deposition. This is carried out in large
'vacuum vessels' at low pressure and the coating is created by creating a shower of atoms dislodged from a target surface
onto the engineering substrate. The specific process investigated here is called sputtering and it uses energetic charged
particles to bombard the target. With applications across the engineering sector advanced coatings & surface engineering
is worth more than £10.8B in direct UK turnover. Surface engineering as a whole, supports UK products worth around
£144B.
At the heart of the sputtering process is an ionized gas or plasma. This electrically conducting medium provides the selfsustaining
environment that transfers atoms of a target material and onto the chosen substrate. Targets are expensive and
target utilization is an issue. So we need a way to design a sputtering process for any given engineering component that
can be done in software avoiding the expense and delay of modifying equipment and coatings by trial and error. We plan
to develop a design tool that can be implemented in numerical simulation software running on a desktop computer in a
pragmatic time for design usage. It will accurately predict coating quality, distribution & target wear in complex industrial
coating equipment treating relevant, 3-D high value components. This numerical approach combines finite element & ray
tracing methods, producing a self-consistent multi-physics model for magnetic & electric fields, plasma & surface physics. It
takes into account the atomistic aspects of the plasma and surface (sputtering) processes within the macroscopic model.
Our contribution to this project is in the form of laboratory expertise and knowledge about low pressure non-equilibrium
plasmas. This will be combined with the modelling expertise of Cobham, the coating expertise of Teer Coatings Ltd and
needs of the surface engineering sector.
Planned Impact
Our contribution to this project is in the form of laboratory expertise and knowledge about low pressure non-equilibriumplasmas. This project aims to combine this with the modelling expertise of Cobham and the coating expertise of TeerCoatings Ltd. As a result the main impact of the work will be on that part of the UK engineering sector who engage with ourindustrial partners.The benchmarking work that we undertake will contribute to the body of published work on the subject of magnetronsputtering and the modelling of technological plasmas.In addition we propose to add societal impact in terms of outreach and education through incorporating an awareness-raising multimedia resource within the Open University's online practical science store: The OpenScience Laboratory(www.opensciencelab.ac.uk). This web-based resource is openly accessible and features a number of activities that aresuitable for enrichment of the secondary science curriculum.
| Description | Insights have been gained into modelling of industrial coatings processes. Sophisticated modelling is computationally expensive and this project has been exploring the extent to which faster modelling can be achieved. Our specific role has been in providing experimental measurements to benchmark the modelling. In particular we have been measuring charged particle density (hairpin probe), magnetic field distribution (Hall probe), spatial distribution of species in the sputtering environment (OES imaging) and the fluxes and energy of sputtered species (LIF). We have identified important interactions between the magnetic field at the surface of a magnetron sputtering target and the energetic of the sputtered species. These are being prepared for publication in an article likely to be entitled "Influence of local magnetic field on fluxes and thermalisation of sputtered species in a DC magnetron". An intersting low current DC magnetron mode has also been explored. This will be reported under the title "Apparent low current (DC) magnetron mode with high relative sputter yield" - it revelas an unstable low power regime in which the plasm flips between a state with a high cathode voltage with significant sputtering of electrode materila into the vapour phase and a lower ambient level sustaied in the background gas. As part of an outeach elemnt we have constructed an online remote-control experiment that can be used in lecttures and demonstrations to show the basic phenomena of electrical breakdown and plasmaforation in real time. It has been trialled in lectures and will continue to be developed as part of the Open University's OpenSTEM Labs. See URL below. |
| Exploitation Route | This project was associated with an Innovate UK industry award. Commercial software developers at Cobham Technical Services and industrial coatings specialists at Teer Coatings (MIBA) were central to the project and are leading the post-award exploitation. It is expected that both partners will be incorporating findings from this programme in future product developments. |
| Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Transport |
| URL | https://learn5.open.ac.uk/course/format/sciencelab/section.php?name=plasma1 |
| Description | Collaboration with two industrial partners - one computational modeller and one in manufacturing industry. Both are using insight gained from collaborative discussions, technical site visits and workshops. These are feeding through into product developments; this was an expected outcome fro the association of thsi project with an Innovate UK project of the same name. As part of the impact derived from this project we created an online plasma demonstration experiment. This has subsequently been used (i) to demonstrate the function of a patented gas valve for special applications developed by academic colleagues working on space exploration projects (ESA and STFC funded) and (ii) to provide an online experimental base for a masters project student studying Space Science and Engineering in a distance learning programme (he adapted the experiment to trail a gas balance and ioniser design of a micro thruster for space applications). Bothe these developments used the demonstrator as an online, remote controlled instrument, accessed by a web browser (as per the original design). |
| First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
| Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Education |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | MOMS€HVM |
| Organisation | Cobham Technical Services |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We provided ex-erimental measurements on a sputtering source loaned by Teer Coatings. We also conducted tests at their site in Droitwich. We also attended a series of closed technical workshops at Cobham Technical Services to discuss and develop code development strategy. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners provided software and hardware. They also provided specifications for the investigations that we performed. It was a genuinely collaborative arrangement. |
| Impact | Reports are in preparation |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | MOMS€HVM |
| Organisation | Teer Coatings Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We provided ex-erimental measurements on a sputtering source loaned by Teer Coatings. We also conducted tests at their site in Droitwich. We also attended a series of closed technical workshops at Cobham Technical Services to discuss and develop code development strategy. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners provided software and hardware. They also provided specifications for the investigations that we performed. It was a genuinely collaborative arrangement. |
| Impact | Reports are in preparation |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Lectures at annual training school for low temperature plasmas |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Lectures on technical electrical measurements in plasmas - frequently featuring methods and results deriving from my EPSRC funded studies of low temperature plasmas. Specific use is made of results from work on magnetron plasmas and other low temperature plasmas. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018 |
| URL | http://www.plasma-school.org |
| Description | Online demonstration of technological plasma |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A simple online link to a low pressure technological plasma demonstrator has been constructed. It is used in technical training schools in 2016, 2017, 2018 (Plasma Physics Training School (CCFE, Culham) and International Course on Low Temperature Plasma Physics (Bad Honef). The aim is to show a laboratory plasma in real time in a lecture context so that the audience can relate theoretical ideas more directly to practical consequences . This work is still ongoing and reaction/developments will be collected in due course. The same tool features in presenations about teaching practical science using online tools and is feautring in a Masters research project in 2019. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017,2018 |
| URL | https://learn5.open.ac.uk/course/format/sciencelab/editsection.php?name=plasma1 |