Advanced Process Control for Thin Film Technologies

PI: Moritz Riede

Department: Physics

Thin film technologies, i.e. technologies that derive their functionality from thin multilayer films of optically and electronically active materials, are profoundly reshaping our high-tech products. One recent example is organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) that have made their way into the displays of many mobile phones and are promising flexible displays for all kinds of applications. The performance of thin film devices crucially depends on the optical and electronic quality of thin films, for which vacuum deposition is the dominating processing technology. However, measuring the film thickness accurately during production is already a challenge, and monitoring the optical properties is beyond the current standard methods, in particular for multilayer films. Building on the results of Prof Riede’s EPSRC WAFT project, his group is setting out to develop an advanced process control for optically monitoring the quality of multilayer thin films, which will be the foundation to produce better OLEDs, solar cells and sensors for exciting new applications.