Smart nanostructured optical coatings prepared by pulsed plasma-based techniques

由于材料科学的进步、新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，业主立案法团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、文件安全等领域提供了诱人的机会。 在2D/3D水平上开发具有复杂纳米结构的新材料的努力已经导致了新的光学效应的发现，这些光学效应可以用于多种应用，例如智能（有源）光学涂层（SOC）系统和功能超颖表面（FMS），其具有定制的电致变色、热致变色、等离子体激元、选择性催化和适合于其在智能多功能光学滤波器（SOFs）中实施的其他特性。 为了应对上述OC领域的挑战，拟议的计划将推进关于薄膜生长和表面改性的前沿研究，使用低压脉冲管理等离子体工艺（PMPP）制造结构可控的SOC和FMS，具有定制的特性，适用于它们在SOFs中的使用。具体而言，将重点关注以下几个方面： a）使用PMPP，例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）和掠射角沉积（GLAD）串联的膜生长，以获得其潜在的协同效应。主要兴趣将致力于提供的新的可能性，由控制脉冲调制的放电参数和等离子体表面相互作用，以合成活性和被动材料的均匀膜的形式与控制密度，纳米结构，结晶度和孔隙率，以及光学纳米结构，包括明确的表面图案，和纳米颗粒通过气相聚集。 B）将纳米结构的智能OC集成在完整的多层SOFs中，目的是展示适合于能量控制和节省（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应用的设备功能。 该计划基于功能涂层和表面工程的整体方法，包括关闭涉及四个基本组成部分的物流循环的所有必要步骤，即（i）光学涂层设计，（ii）包括诊断和监测在内的工艺开发，（iii）材料合成，以及（iv）材料和设备表征和功能测试。

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.