| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/M506825/1 |
| Title: |
Modelling of Magnetron Sputtering for High Value Manufacturing (MOMS4HVM) |
| Principal Investigator: |
Braithwaite, Professor NS |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| 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
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Design & Testing Technology |
Manufacturing Machine & Plant |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
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| Related Grants: |
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| Panel History: |
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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.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.open.ac.uk |