| AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Thin Films Division | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session TF-TuM |
| Session: | Advanced CVD and ALD Processing, ALD Manufacturing and Spatial-ALD |
| Presenter: | Brandon Piercy, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Authors: | B.D. Piercy, Georgia Institute of Technology J. Crane, Georgia Institute of Technology M.D. Losego, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
A major challenge for researchers developing custom deposition equipment is the design and creation of the control software and electronics. While a simple loop-based control logic is often sufficient for sequential deposition applications like atomic layer deposition (ALD), it becomes cumbersome and difficult to reprogram when integrating more complex functionality or decision making. Furthermore, there are limited examples of publicly available control code or hardware schematics that can be easily integrated into an existing system. The “behavior tree” algorithm, developed in the robotics and artificial intelligence communities, is a highly adaptable and intuitive method to create complex behaviors. With behavior trees, we have created unique deposition recipes that would be challenging to implement using simpler control algorithms. We have written the core algorithm to run on widely available microcontrollers, making it possible to control equipment remotely using mobile “apps” or a centralized computer. In this talk, we will describe our microcontroller implementation and how it can be rapidly integrated into new or existing sequential deposition systems.