Optimal operation of thin film growth with multiscale process objectives

The issue of optimal time-varying operation for transport-reaction processes is considered, when the cost functional and/or equality constraints necessitate the consideration of phenomena that occur over disparate length scales. Multiscale process models are initially developed, linking continuum conservation laws with microscopic scale simulators. Subsequently, order reduction techniques for dissipative partial-differential equations are combined with adaptive tabulation methods for microscopic simulators to reduce the computational requirements of the optimization problem, which is then solved using standard search algorithms. The method is demonstrated on a thin film deposition process, where optimal surface temperature profiles and inlet switching times that simultaneously maximize thickness uniformity and minimize surface roughness across the film surface are computed.