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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/M71039/01
Title: AUTOMATED OPTIMISATION AND CONTROL OF LOW TEMPERATURE PLASMA PROCESSES
Principal Investigator: Hopgood, Professor AA
Other Investigators:
Braithwaite, Professor NS Picton, Professor P
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: Materials Engineering
Organisation: The Open University
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 January 2000 Ends: 30 June 2003 Value (£): 155,641
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Intelligent Measurement Sys. Plasmas - Technological
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Manufacturing Electronics
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
The efficiency and effectiveness of plasma deposition and etching processes would benefit from improved control over the physical and chemical interactions throughout the plasma. In a previous EPSRC-funded collaboration between the applicant, GR/J32213, artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have been used to control plasma deposition processes. Our system can control plasma deposition processes using previously known conditions. It is now proposed that an extended system can be built that can explore the parameter space to find improved operating conditions. The proposed system can therefore 'design' the fluxes of species towards surfaces to match the particular process requirements. Alternative search strategies will be assessed, including contour following, gradient descent, simulated annealing, and genetic algorithms. The development of our AI controller will enable operation in regions of the parameter space that would otherwise be unfeasible owing to the close control that is needed. Particular emphasis will be placed on developing software to seek and exploit 'knife-edge' conditions between deposition and etching. The combination of etching and deposition allows the creation of surface profiles with sub- mm features.
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