Mathematical Sciences: VIP/Thin Film Deposition: Atomic Level Simulations, Verification, and Implementation

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This award will support a multi-disciplinary collaboration on the development of mathematical and computer simulation techniques which are sufficiently sophisticated, flexible and robust to meaningfully predict a complex manufacturing process. Success in this program will represent a significant step forward in the complexity of real manufacturing issues which can be effectively addressed by simulation. The specific process which will be addressed in this program is the growth of multilayer metal and dielectric films, which need to be patterned with precision of a fraction of a micron for contacting the tens of millions of individual device elements within modern microelectronic circuits. The program will combine mathematical models with atomic-level computer simulations to predictively model the film growth over length scales ranging from the atomic to the microstructural. These predictions will then be compared with atomic-scale characterization (using state-of the-art electron and ion microscopy techniques) of experimental depositions, to refine our understanding of the exact physical processes describing film growth, and to verify and refine the predictive models. The experimental depositions will be performed both with state-of-the-art research systems which provide atomic-scale control of film growth, and with real microelectronics processing facilities at Lucent Technologies. This program will assemble a team of internationally recognized mathematicians, physicists and materials scientists. The program goals are to improve substantially the deposition of microelectronic contact layers, a central challenge to the two hundred billion dollar microelectronics industry, and to expand current acceptance of what is technically "possible" in terms of predictive modeling of complex manufacturing processes. Funding for this activity will be provided by the Division of Mathematical Sciences, the MPS Office of Multidisciplinary Activities, the NSF Engineering Directorate, and by DARPA .