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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/M506825/1
Title: Modelling of Magnetron Sputtering for High Value Manufacturing (MOMS4HVM)
Principal Investigator: Braithwaite, Professor NS
Other Investigators:
Gorfinkiel, Dr J
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: Faculty of Sci, Tech, Eng & Maths (STEM)
Organisation: Open University
Scheme: Technology Programme
Starts: 01 October 2014 Ends: 31 December 2016 Value (£): 233,039
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Design & Testing Technology Manufacturing Machine & Plant
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Manufacturing
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
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.
Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Impacts
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Summary
Date Materialised
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Further Information:  
Organisation Website: http://www.open.ac.uk