CONTROL AND OPTIMIZATION OF MULTISCALE PROCESS SYSTEMS

Interest in the control and optimization of multiscale process systems has been triggered by the need to achieve tight feedback control and optimal operation of complex processes, such as deposition and sputtering of thin films in semiconductor manufacturing, which are characterized by highly coupled macroscopic and microscopic phenomena. Drawing from recent advances in the dynamics and control of distributed parameter processes for which continuum laws are applicable as well as stochastic modeling of phenomena at mesoscopic/microscopic length scales, control and optimization of multiscale process systems has evolved into a very active research area of systems and control engineering.