Department of Materials, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, United Kingdom

S.D.Kenny@lboro.ac.uk

Abstract:

The coating of materials with thin films has applications in numerous areas e.g. mechanical properties, corrosion resistance and thermal barriers. This work will highlight the use of modelling applied to thin films used on glazing to achieve energy demand reduction. The work uses atomistic modelling techniques so that the important growth processes can be elucidated and the effect of the growth conditions can be understood.

One of the critical areas within the low emissivity coatings is the interface between the silver and the transparent conducting oxide (TCO). This work will discuss the growth of Ag and its interface with ZnO, which is used as a TCO in these materials. These systems will be used to illustrate the power of these methods in identifying very complicated growth processes that are critical in these materials. The work will show how the models can help understand the role of experimental parameters such as deposition energy, the arriving species and Argon co-deposition on the morphology of the films produced.

To achieve simulations on these systems that realistically model the experimental processes new modelling techniques have been developed. These allow the modelling of these systems over realistic timescales to allow experimental deposition rates to be simulated.