SBIR Phase I: Automatic Sweep Pattern Generator for Precision E-beam Deposited Optical Coatings to Overcome E-beam System Non-linearities

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将为生产规模的电子束沉积系统开发第一个自动扫描图案生成器，该生成器将能够更好地控制层光学厚度，提高许多关键应用的光学镀膜性能。电子束沉积光学涂层是用于电信、国防、卫星和高能激光的一种使能技术。然而，电子束工艺受到涂层材料不均匀蒸发引起的涂层厚度变化的限制，并且需要均匀的电子束扫描图案。该项目将利用热成像能力和新提出的设计理论来开发一种自动扫描图案生成器，该生成器将使蒸发更加均匀。除了通过允许更均匀的耗尽来减少需要大量源材料利用的应用的层厚度变化之外，这种新的图案生成器还将实现更高精度的涂层，并从源熔炉沉积更多的层。该公司的战略是利用公司广泛的工艺知识和行业合作伙伴，在易于使用和轻松集成到生产系统中的产品中提供显著价值。该项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将在光学涂层性能方面实现，这是一种使许多关键精密光学应用得以实现的技术，包括高能激光、光刻、电信、国防和卫星。电子束真空沉积主要用于生产这些涂层，因为它具有优越的经济性和工艺通用性。然而，该行业在增加涂层数量的同时，不断要求对涂层厚度和组成提出更严格的公差。新出现的外国竞争要求优化产量、质量和成本等生产目标。美国制造业如果要继续在价值18亿美元的高端精密光学镀膜市场发挥主导作用，就必须既收紧公差，又降低成本。国内电子束系统供应商正在艰难地与销售预配置高精度工艺的交钥匙镀膜系统的外国供应商竞争。由于开发先进工艺的困难，这些外国供应商能够收取溢价。为了促进生产中的先进工艺开发，供应商寻求提供具有先进仪器的高精度系统，包括可编程扫描控制器和光学监控器。自动扫描模式生成器将与这些组件协同工作，以实现可自动优化的高精度系统。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop the first automated sweep pattern generator for production scale electron beam deposition systems that will enable better control over layer optical thickness, improving optical coating performance for many critical applications. Electron beam deposited optical coatings are an enabling technology for telecommunications, defense, satellites, and high energy lasers. However, the electron beam process is limited by coating layer thickness variation resulting from uneven evaporation of the coating material and requires uniform electron beam sweep pattern. The project will use thermal imaging capabilities and a newly proposed design theory to develop an automatic sweep pattern generator that will enable more uniform evaporation. In addition to reducing layer thickness variation for applications requiring significant source material utilization by allowing more uniform depletion, this new pattern generator will enable higher precision coatings and deposition of more layers from a source crucible. The strategy is to leverage the company's extensive process knowledge and industrial collaborators to deliver significant value in a product that is simple to use and easily integrated into production systems.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be realized in optical coating performance, an enabling technology for many critical precision optics applications including high energy lasers, lithography, telecommunications, defense, and satellites. Electron-beam vacuum deposition is dominantly used to produce these coatings because of its superior economics and process versatility. However, the industry is constantly demanding more stringent tolerances on layer thickness and composition while increasing the number of layers. Emerging foreign competition necessitates optimizing production objectives such as throughput, quality, and cost. U.S. manufacturing must both tighten its tolerances and lower its costs if it is to continue to play a leadership role in the 1.8 billion dollar high-end precision optical coating market. Domestic e-beam system vendors are struggling to compete with foreign vendors who sell turn-key coating systems with high precision processes pre-configured. These foreign vendors are able to charge a premium due to the difficulty of developing advanced processes. In order to facilitate advanced process development in production, vendors seek to provide high precision systems with advanced instrumentation including programmable sweep controllers and optical monitors. The automated sweep pattern generator will work synergistically with these components to enable a high precision system that can be optimized automatically.