PVD HiPIMS Digital Twin Development

Leader: Jean-Philippe Poli

Technologies for producing thin layers by physical vapor deposition are strategic for many industrial sectors of our daily lives: microelectronics, low-carbon energies, high-performance mechanics, aeronautics, construction, etc. As part of the national dynamic of the PEPR DIADEM dedicated to the accelerated discovery of materials, the CEA materials program financed the design and implementation at INSTN of a DIADEM 2D acceleration platform allowing the combinatorial synthesis in dynamic mode of thin layers by a hybrid HIPIMS/pulsed DC process. This automated platform, which is expected to become autonomous in the coming years thanks to its integration with AI, enables:

• the rapid synthesis of complex coatings based on digital design approaches

• the design of new coatings and architectures using AI-assisted optimization approaches

• the optimization of industrial solutions: reducing cycle times and preparing for transfers to industrial scale

The CHIPS project, a collaboration between INSTN and the CEA’s LIST Institute, which is developing a frugal artificial intelligence tool, Expressif Materials, aims to develop an initial digital twin of the DIADEM 2D platform, for both teaching and research purposes. A comparison between this new symbolic AI tool and more traditional optimization approaches will also be conducted as part of this project.