A critical review on the numerical simulation related to Physical Vapour Deposition

Abstract

Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) is a process usually used for the production of advanced coatings regarding its application in several industrial and current products, such as optical lens, moulds and dies, decorative parts or tools. This process has several variants due to its strong evolution along the last decades. The process is commonly assisted by plasma, creating a particular low pressure and medium temperature atmosphere, which is responsible for the transition of atomic particles between the target and the parts to be coated into a vacuum reactor. Several parameters are directly affecting the deposition, namely the substrate temperature, pressure inside the reactor, assisting gases used, type of current, power supply, bias, substrate and target materials, samples holder and corresponding rotation, deposition time, among others. Many mathematical models have been developed in order to allow the generation of numerical simulation applications, trying to combine parameters and expect the corresponding results. Numerical simulation applications were created around the mathematical models previously developed, which can play an important role in the prediction of the coating properties and structure. This paper intends to describe the numerical simulation evolution in the last years, namely the use of Finite Elements Method (FEM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).