Optimal operation of thin film growth with multiscale process objectives

The issue of optimal time-varying operation for transport-reactionprocesses is considered, when the cost functional and/or equalityconstraints necessitate the consideration of phenomena that occurover disparate length scales. Multiscale process models areinitially developed, linking continuum conservation laws withmicroscopic scale simulators. Subsequently, order reductiontechniques for dissipative partial-differential equations arecombined with adaptive tabulation methods for microscopicsimulators to reduce the computational requirements of theoptimization problem, which is then solved using standard searchalgorithms. The method is demonstrated on a thin film depositionprocess, where optimal surface temperature profiles and inletswitching times that simultaneously maximize thickness uniformityand minimize surface roughness across the film surface arecomputed.