3D modeling of transport properties on the surface of a textronic structure produced using a physical vapor deposition process

This study presents a numerical model designed to simulate the transport properties of textronic structures produced by physical deposition from the gas phase. For the numerical implementation of the model, the method of fundamental solutions was used, which was implemented using the author’s iterative algorithm. Such an approach is rarely used due to the difficulty of obtaining accurate solutions with optimal computational cost. The developed algorithm ensures good convergence of solutions (δk ≈ 5%) with acceptable computational time (t ≈ 180 s for 17 × 103 iterations). The software tool has options for calculating the electric field and density of current distributions for the given system power conditions. The ability to define a conductive path in three geometric dimensions makes it possible to study the effect of changes in the surface geometry on the resistance of the textronic structure. The accuracy of the model was verified by measuring the resistance of selected samples of simulated materials. The measurements confirmed the conclusions of the simulations about the clear dependence of the resistivity of the structure on the roughness of the conducting surface. The range of the largest changes in resistivity as a function of the surface roughness of the conducting path was also determined.