Smart nanostructured optical coatings prepared by pulsed plasma-based techniques

由于材料科学的进步、新的制造工艺的发展以及不断增加的技术、环境和经济挑战之间的协同作用，涂层和表面工程技术领域正在迅速发展。此外，OCS的应用范围继续扩大，在电信、显示器、节能、传感和环境控制、激光、照明、仪器仪表、消费电子、健康相关设备、文件安全等众多领域提供了有吸引力的机会。 在2D/3D水平上开发具有复杂纳米结构的新材料的努力导致了新的光学效应的发现，这些新的光学效应可以被用于多种应用，例如智能(主动)光学涂层(SOC)系统和具有定制的电致变色、热致变色、等离子体、选择性催化和其他适合于在智能多功能滤光器(SOF)中实现的性能的功能亚表面(FMS)。 为了应对上述有机碳领域的挑战，拟议的计划将利用低压脉冲管理等离子体工艺(PMPP)推进薄膜生长和表面改性的尖端研究，以制造具有定制特性的结构控制的SOC和FMS，适合于它们在SOF中的使用。具体来说，它将集中在以下几个方面： A)利用PMPP，如高功率脉冲磁控溅射(HiPIMS)，我们计划探索与等离子体增强化学气相沉积(PECVD)、等离子体增强原子层沉积(PE-ALD)和掠角沉积(GRAND)一起生长薄膜的潜在协同效应。主要的兴趣将集中在通过控制脉冲调制放电参数和等离子体-表面相互作用提供的新的可能性，以合成具有受控密度、纳米结构、结晶度和孔隙率的均匀薄膜形式的主动和被动材料，以及具有明确表面图案的光学纳米结构，以及通过气相聚合获得的纳米颗粒。 B)将在完整的多层SOF中集成纳米结构的智能OC，目的是展示适用于能源控制和节约(智能窗户和智能散热器)、安全(防伪和认证)、气体和蒸汽传感器等领域的设备功能。 该计划以功能涂层和表面工程的整体方法为基础，包括关闭涉及四个基本组件的物流回路的所有必要步骤，即(I)光学涂层设计，(Ii)工艺开发，包括诊断和监控，(Iii)材料合成，以及(Iv)材料和器件表征以及功能测试。

The field of coating and surface engineering technology is evolving very rapidly thanks to the synergy between the progress in materials science, development of new fabrication processes and ever increasing technical, environmental and economic challenges. Moreover, the range of applications of OCs continues to broaden, offering attractive opportunities in areas such as telecommunications, displays, energy saving, sensing and environmental control, lasers, lighting, instrumentation, consumer electronics, health-related devices, document security and numerous others. The strive to develop new materials with complex nanostructures on 2D/3D levels has resulted in the discovery of new optical effects that could find use in multiple applications such as smart (active) optical coating (SOC) systems and functional metasurfaces (FMS) with tailored electrochromic, thermochromic, plasmonic, selective catalytic and other properties suitable for their implementation in smart multifunctional optical filters (SOFs). In response to the challenges in the area of OC described above, the proposed program will advance cutting edge research on the growth of thin films and modification of surfaces using low pressure, pulse-managed plasma processes (PMPP) to fabricate structurally controlled SOCs and FMS with tailored properties, suitable for their use in SOFs. Specifically, it will focus on the following aspects: a) Using the PMPP, such as high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), we plan to explore film growth in tandem with plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition (PE-ALD) and Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) for their potential synergistic effects. Main interest will be devoted to the new possibilities offered by controlled pulse modulation of the discharge parameters and of the plasma-surface interactions to synthesize active and passive materials in the form of homogeneous films with controlled density, nanostructure, crystallinity and porosity, as well as optical nanostructures comprising well defined surface patterns, and nanoparticles obtained by gas phase aggregation. b) Integration of the nanostructured smart OC within complete multilayer SOFs will be performed with the aim to demonstrate device functions suitable for applications in the areas of energy control and saving (smart windows and smart radiators), security (anticounterfeiting and authentication), gas and vapor sensors, and others. The program is based on the holistic approach to functional coatings and surface engineering, that includes all necessary steps to close the logistic loop involving four essential components, namely (i) optical coating design, (ii) process development including diagnostics and monitoring, (iii) materials synthesis, and (iv) materials and device characterization and functional testing.