Engineering AGC’s PlasmaMAX™ technology for fast SiO₂ deposition.
The Partners
AGC Plasma Technology Solutions develops and industrializes novel plasma coating technologies – both for the internal needs of AGC and for external partners. The company provides complete support for transferring coating technologies from the R&D scale to the mass production scale.
The group of prof. Stephane Lucas at the Université de Namur is an internationally renowned team with many competences – development of new materials, material characterization or plasma diagnostics. The competence most relevant to this project is their ability of film growth simulation.
Problem Specification
AGC has developed a highly innovative PECVD coating technology called PlasmaMAX™ which is based on the hollow cathode plasma. It has been demonstrated that the PECVD method produces high-purity SiO2, TiO2, ZnO, Al2O3 or DLC coatings at deposition rate over 10x higher than conventional (sputtering-based) processes.
The aim of the project is to develop a multi-scale simulation toolbox capable of predicting the behavior of the PECVD process as well as material properties, only based on the coater settings.
PlasmaSolve and Université de Namur are assisting AGC Plasma with finding answers to these questions. Their joint efforts have also been supported by the M-era.net international grant called MIST.
Results and Benefits
The project yielded several benefits to all the three partners involved in it:
AGC was provided with scaling laws and concrete recommendations for up- and down- scaling the technology.
AGC validated its hypotheses about flow distribution and plasma uniformity. Wherever possible, suggestions for improvement were given.
PlasmaSolve implemented new simulation tools for PECVD system and process simulation into its MatSight software.
Université de Namur upgraded its software Virtual Coater™ by improving its film growth simulation model NASCAM™ (NanoSCale Modeling)
Gas flow visualized in AGC’s hollow cathode system. Some components have been hidden to protect sensitive IP.
Simulation Strategy
The project was based on a rather ambitious simulation concept – it benefits from the fact that PlasmaSolve has extensive experience with process-level simulation while Université de Namur possesses unique film-growth simulation tools.
These tools are perfectly complementary – PlasmaSolve’s software can simulate plasma distribution, gas flow distribution, even densities of various species created in the plasma. However, it does not include detailed treatment of surface chemical processes or diffusion effects at the coated surfaces.
On the contrary, the composition and structure of coatings can be predicted using the NASCAM™ software from Université de Namur. This software, in turn, requires inputs from process models – species densities and fluences.
When combined, the tools of PlasmaSolve and Université de Namur enabled prediction of coating properties based on the PECVD coater settings.
Plasma Distribution Evaluation
Understanding the plasma distribution is important because it affects the flux of ions to the surface. The flux of ions, in turn, influences the density and compactness of the resulting coating.
The plasma distribution and composition generally changes with
Gas pressure and gas flow rate
Reactor power
Distance between the electrode and substrate
All of these dependencies and trends were captured using a 2D plasma model.
Gas Flow Simulations
The pressure in the PECVD system varies accross several orders of magnitude – from 100 Pa to a little under 1 Pa. For gas flow simulation, this presents certain challenges because there are two methods one could use – neither of them being a perfect fit.
The DSMC (direct-simulation Monte-Carlo) method would be warranted due to the low pressure limit where the flow stops to follow the rules of the continuum. However, it is computationally unfeasible at the higher pressures, above 10 Pa.
A compressible fluid simulation with slip boundary conditions is about 200x more computationally efficient compared to DSMC, but its accuracy in the low pressure region is unknown.
For that reason, PlasmaSolve simulated an AGC coater using both the types of models and validated them against pressure readings on two distinct locations in the low pressure region.
The study revealed that the fluid simulation is very well applicable to a glass-coating PECVD reactor and both the simulation techniques showed matched the measurement very well.
The validated code was then used for several engineering studies, typically pertaining to gas flow uniformity.
Benchmarking flow simulation with measurements
Understanding the Chemistry
The plasma-phase chemistry of the precursor – TMDSO (tetramethyldisiloxane) was previously unknown. PlasmaSolve worked with a tremendouns number of literature resources to formulate a complete plasma-kinetic system for this complex compound. The resulting system contains nearly 70 species and over 1200 plasma-chemical reactions.
The scheme was migrated into PlasmaSolve’s Global Plasma Model, which is a computationally efficient tool describing the plasma in a volume-averaged approximation but with all the possible chemical processes that could take place.
Once this respectable task is completed, the Global Plasma Model can be used for
Discovering favorable reaction pathways in the system.
Adjusting coater settings to favor a concrete reaction pathway.
Providing necessary input into film-growth simulations
Chemical composition of plasma as a function of time – only the 10 most abundant reactive neutrals and 10 most abundant positive ions are shown.
Modeling the film growth
The modeling of the film growth based on the results of the Global Plasma Model was made possible by an improvement of the NASCAM™ package of the software Virtual Coater™ developed by UNamur and sold by Innovative Coating Solutions (ICS).
More than 60 surface chemical reactions between condensing species were introduced into the model, whose reaction probabilities were evaluated by DFT. This enhancement, together with the capabilities already built into NASCAM, were used to determine the chemical composition, density and morphology of coatings as a function of discharge parameters and the amounts of HMDSO/TMDSO and oxygen injected into the discharge.
A detailed parametric study was carried out to determine the best settings to obtain a pure SiO2 film.
This improvement is now available and operational for any type of monomer injected into discharges with similar characteristics.
a) Example of reaction occurring at the sample surface: (b) Film growth for 1 coater setup (c) 3D parametric scan to predict the film composition
PlasmaSolve
PlasmaSolve is a team of subject matter experts in plasma-powered technologies and materials science. Our mission is to create reliable and faithful digital twin models for these cutting-edge technologies. We achieve this by synergizing physics simulation, chemistry simulation, machine learning, data mining, and material characterization.
At PlasmaSolve, we specialize in helping businesses improve their PVD, PECVD, and ion source equipment. We have extensive experience in developing new processes and retrofitting existing equipment to meet evolving industry needs. Our team’s expertise also extends to simulation-guided design of other plasma sources, such as gas conversion reactors or satellite electric propulsion systems.
MatSight
PlasmaSolve started as a consultancy company that specializes in plasma-powered technologies and materials science. As of 2023, we are expanding our services to include the development of highly specialized plasma simulation software called MatSight. The first cohort of PlasmaSolve’s MatSight Apps have already been delivered to early-adopter companies and you will soon be hearing more about this innovative software tool..
Applied Research Grants
Although public co-funding comprises only a minor portion of our annual turnover, it is a vital resource stream that helps us develop new, cutting-edge simulation tools for PVD, PECVD, and ion sources.
IraSME FastPIMS (2023-2025)
Partners: Fraunhofer IWM, Aurion GmbH
Project “FastPIMS: Simulation driven Fast switch match system for pulsed rf/HiPIMS plasma applications”, reg.no. CZ.01.01.01/01/22_002/0000106 is co-funded by the European Union. The aim of the project is to develop a global RF and HiPIMS sputtering model that will allow the sputtering process of oxide coatings to be configured and customised for specific users and their applications without the need for a lengthy testing process.
TAČR OPTIMISM (2020-2025)
Partners: Masaryk University, SHM s.r.o.
Scope: PlasmaSolve is coordinating this research project, where we are implementing computationally efficient coater-scale plasma models and demonstrating their efficiency on ta-C and AlCrN coatings grown by high-power magnetron sputtering. Another important aspect of the project is absolute measurement of sputtering yields in various contexts (metalic, poisoned, …)
TAČR SILAS (2023-2025)
Partners: SpaceLabEU SE (coordinator), Brno University of Technology
Scope: PlasmaSolve is developing a digital twin model for a unique ECR ion source. The key characteristic of the ECR ion source is the ability to operate at very low pressures, as low as 20 mPa. The primary application of the device is air-breathing satellite electric propulsion but a laboratory version of the device is also envisioned.
M-era.net MIST (2020-2021)
Partners: Université de Namur (coordinator), AGC Plasma
Scope: The project coordinated by UNamur aimed to create a Multi-scale simulation toolbox for PECVD processes. The efficiency and accuracy of the simulation toolbox combining PlasmaSolve’s and UNamur’s models was illustrated on the example of the AGC’s novel hollow cathode technology.
Horizon 2020 PlasmaJetPack (2019-2022)
Partners: COMAT (coordinator), OHB Sweden, CNRS Icare, Bundeswehr Uni München CNRS Laplace, TAS France
Scope: COMAT is a developer of a disruptive solid-propellant vacuum arc thruster for satellites. PlasmaSolve contributed to their ambitious goal by numerical modeling of the vacuum arc and its contraction under magnetic fields. In the process, PlasmaSolve has significantly improved its vacuum arc simulation capabilities and created a trustworthy database of vacuum arc erosion rates for various cathode materials.
Scientific Papers
As time-consuming as it is, we try to publish our research regularly as a way of paying back to the academic community that we are learning a lot from!
K. Tomanková et al. Simulation of a hollow-cathode PECVD process in O2/TMDSO for silicon dioxide deposition – Cross-code validation of 2D plasma model and global plasma model. Surface Coatings and Technolgy 474 (2023). Open-access.
A. Roštek et al. Simulating ion flux to 3D parts in vacuum arc coating: Investigating effect of part size using novel particle-based model. Surface Coatings and Technolgy 449 (2022)
K. Mrózek et al. Global plasma modeling of a magnetized high-frequency plasma source in low-pressure nitrogen and oxygen for air-breathing electric propulsion applications. Plasma Sources Science and Technology 30 (2021). Open-access.
M. Kubečka et al. Predictive simulation of antenna effect in PVD processes using fluid models. Surface Coatings and Technology 379 (2019).
R. Rudd et al. Plasma gas aggregation cluster source: Influence of gas inlet configuration and total surface area on the heterogeneous aggregation of silicon clusters. Surface Coatings and Technology 364 (2019)
R. Rudd et al. Manipulation of cluster formation through gas-wall boundary conditions in large area cluster sources. Surface Coatings and Technolgy 314 (2016)
What’s next? Get in touch! Try MatSight
A limited amount of trial versions that you can try on-premise is available. Email us to see if you qualify.
If you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate to contact us+420 776 185 170
