Sensing and Control of Vacuum Processes Presented by Dermot Monaghan

What You Will Learn:

The sensing and control of the vacuum coating process is of upmost importance for consistent, high-quality end-product. Every process will at least have one pressure gauge and some will make use of a Residual Gas Analyser (RGA) to monitor the condition of the base vacuum before the start of the process. Very few systems will monitor the vacuum gases present during the process itself, and for web coating systems this is a problem as the often delicate, chemically complex and variable nature of the web substrate can result in inconsistent deposited film quality without knowing the vacuum environment during coating.

This webinar presents results from using various sensors to monitor and enhance different plasma pre-treatment and vacuum coating processes. Gas liberated from plasma pre-treatment of different substrate materials and at different powers is monitored to determine how the web is reacting and also if the pre-treatment is effective or at the optimum level.

For vacuum deposition, data will be shown from both evaporation and sputtering of monitoring methods during pre-treatment, deposition and post treatment, and how much improved process mapping and control is possible by this simple technique.

Having reliable sensing can enable advanced feedback control and the potential use of artificial intelligence to self-manage the system. The talk will include highly practical examples of both methods.

Presenter Bio:

For the last 34 years I have been involved in vacuum deposition, initially in postgraduate research followed by industry and established Gencoa as a supplier of components for thin film and vacuum environment in 1994. I completed a PhD covering the formation of novel PVD films by unbalanced magnetron sputtering at Salford University in 1992. Since that date I have worked in the vacuum coating industry and focused on supplying technology and devices to improve various forms of vacuum processes.