SIMULATION-BASED DESIGN OF THIN-FILM MATERIAL USING KNOWLEDGE-BASED EINGINEERING

The widespread application of thin-films presents unique challenges and opportunities. Although many computational approaches have been adopted to study and simulate the process, none have been close to allowing a design environment that accurately represents and simulates the physics of the process and enables the visualization and analysis of the resulting microstructure and properties of the thin-film layers and film-to-substrate interface.The proposed objective is to develop a design environment for modeling and simulating the thin-film deposition process. Several issues for modeling and simulating the thin-film deposition process. Several issues will be addressed: 1) modeling the process be formulating the behavior of the atoms or molecules as rules; 2) simulating and visualizing the results including defects in lattices and structures, doping, shape of film interface, thickness, and distribution of species; 3) developing a flexible design environment for rule-based modeling of atom-atom interactions; and 4) evaluating the optical and mechanical performance of the resulting thin-film on various shapes and materials.In Phase I, the modeling system architecture will be completed including the specification of rules for atomic and molecular interaction and the geometric reasoning and modeling functionally for simulation and visualization. In Phase II, the system architecture will be developed and tested. Also, a plan to commercialize the system will be prepared.