Structure and optical properties of ZnS thin films grown by glancing angle deposition

The glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique was used to deposit ZnS films by electron beam evaporation method. The cross sectional scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image illustrated a highly orientated microstructure composed of slanted column. The atomic force microscopy (APM) analysis indicated that incident flux angle had significant effects on the nodule size and surface roughness. Under identical nominal thickness, the actual thickness of the GLAD films is related to the incident flux angle. The refractive index and in-plane birefringence of the GLAD ZnS films were discussed, and the maximum bireffingence Delta n = 0.036 was obtained at incident flux angle of alpha = 80 degrees. Therefore, the glancing angle deposition technique is a promising way to create a columnar structure with enhanced birefringent property. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2 thin films deposited by electron beam evaporation: Structural, morphological characterization and laser induced damage threshold

Four kinds of Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ) thin films with different Y2O3 content have been prepared on BK7 substrates by electron-beam evaporation method. Structural properties and surface morphology of thin films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra and scanning probe microscope. Laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) was determined. It was found that crystalline phase and microstructure of YSZ thin films was dependent on Y2O3 molar content. YSZ thin films changed from monoclinic phase to high temperature phase (tetragonal and cubic) with the increase of Y2O3 content. The LIDT of stabilized thin film is more than that of unstabilized thin films. The reason is that ZrO2 material undergoes phase transition during the course of e-beam evaporation resulting in more numbers of defects compared to that of YSZ thin films. These defects act as absorptive center and the original breakdown points. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Annealing effects on electron-beam evaporated Al2O3 films

The effects of post-deposited annealing on structure and optical properties of electron-beam evaporated Al2O3 single layers were investigated. The films were annealed in air for 1.5 h at different temperatures from 250 to 400 degrees C. The optical constants and cut-off wavelength were deduced. Microstructure of the samples was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Profile and surface roughness measurement instrument was used to determine the rms surface roughness. It was found that the cut-off wavelength shifted to short wavelength as the annealing temperature increased and the total optical loss decreased. The film structure remained amorphous even after annealing at 400 degrees C temperature and the samples annealed at higher temperature had the higher rms surface roughness. The decreasing total optical loss with annealing temperature was attributed to the reduction of absorption owing to oxidation of the film by annealing. Guidance to reduce the optical loss of excimer laser mirrors was given. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparison of TiO2 and ZrO2 films deposited by electron-beam evaporation and by sol-gel process

TiO2 and ZrO2 films are deposited by electron-beam (EB) evaporation and by sol-gel process. The film properties are characterized by visible and Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry, x-ray diffraction analysis, surface roughness measure, absorption and laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) test. It is found that the sol-gel Elms have lower refractive index, packing density and roughness than EB deposited films due to their amorphous structure and high OH group concentration in the film. The high LIDT of sol-gel films is mainly due to their amorphous and porous structure, and low absorption. LIDT of EB deposited film is considerably affected by defects in the Elm, and LIDT of sol-gel deposited film is mainly effected by residual organic impurities and solvent trapped in the film.

Structural and optical properties of nanostructured TiO2 thin films fabricated by glancing angle deposition

TiO2 films deposited by electron beam evaporation with glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique were reported. The influence of flux angle on the surface morphology and the microstructure was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. The GLAD TiO2 films are anisotropy with highly orientated nanostructure of the slanted columns. With the increase of flux angle, refractive index and packing density decrease. This is caused by the shadowing effect dominating film growth. The anisotropic structure of TiO2 films results in optical birefringence, which reaches its maximum at the flux angle alpha = 65 degrees. The maximum birefringence of GLAD TiO2 films is higher than that of common bulk materials. It is suggested that glancing angle deposition may offer an effective method to obtain tailorable refractive index and birefringence in a large continuous range. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optical and electrical properties of TiOx thin films deposited by electron beam evaporation

The TiOx thin films were prepared by electron beam evaporation using TiO as the starting material. The effect of the annealing temperature on the optical and electrical properties was investigated. The spectra of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveal that Ti in the films mainly exist in the forms of Ti2+ and Ti3+ below 400 degrees C 24h annealing. The charge transfer between different titanium ion contribute greatly to the color, absorption, and electrical resistance of the films. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Working pressure dependence of properties of Al2O3 thin films prepared by electron beam evaporation

The effects of working pressure on properties of Al2O3 thin films are investigated. Transmittance of the Al2O3 thin film is measured by a Lambda 900 spectrometer. Laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) is measured by a Nd:YAG laser at 355nm with a pulse width of 7ns. Microdefects were observed under a Nomarski microscope. The samples are characterized by optical properties and defect, as well as LIDT under the 355 nm Nd: YAG laser radiation. It is found that the working pressure has fundamental effect on the LIDT. It is the absorption rather than the microdefect that plays an important role on the LID T of Al2O3 thin film.

Annealing effects on the optical and structural properties of Al2O3/SiO2 films as UV antireflection coatings on 4H-SiC substrates

Al2O3/SiO2 films have been prepared by electron-beam evaporation as ultraviolet (UV) antireflection coatings on 4H-SiC substrates and annealed at different temperatures. The films were characterized by reflection spectra, ellipsometer system, atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. As the annealing temperature increased, the minimum reflectance of the films moved to the shorter wavelength for the variation of refractive indices and the reduction of film thicknesses. The surface grains appeared to get larger in size and the root mean square (RMS) roughness of the annealed films increased with the annealing temperature but was less than that of the as-deposited. The Al2O3/SiO2 films maintained amorphous in microstructure with the increase of the temperature. Meanwhile, the transition and diffusion in film component were found in XPS measurement. These results provided the important references for Al2O3/SiO2 films annealed at reasonable temperatures and prepared as fine anti-reflection coatings on 4H-SiC-based UV optoelectronic devices. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influences of CO2 laser annealing on mechanical and laser-induced damage properties of ZrO2 thin films

Zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) thin films were deposited on BK7 glass substrates by the electron beam evaporation method. A continuous wave CO2 laser was used to anneal the ZrO2 thin films to investigate whether beneficial changes could be produced. After annealing at different laser scanning speeds by CO2 laser, weak absorption of the coatings was measured by the surface thermal lensing (STL) technique, and then laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) was also determined. It was found that the weak absorption decreased first, while the laser scanning speed is below some value, then increased. The LIDT of the ZrO2 coatings decreased greatly when the laser scanning speeds were below some value. A Nomarski microscope was employed to map the damage morphology, and it was found that the damage behavior was defect-initiated both for annealed and as-deposited samples. The influences of post-deposition CO2 laser annealing on the structural and mechanical properties of the films have also been investigated by X-ray diffraction and ZYGO interferometer. It was found that the microstructure of the ZrO2 films did not change. The residual stress in ZrO2 films showed a tendency from tensile to compressive after CO, laser annealing, and the variation quantity of the residual stress increased with decreasing laser scanning speed. The residual stress may be mitigated to some extent at proper treatment parameters. (c) 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

High refractive index TiO2 film deposited by electron beam evaporation

The well known 'crystal seed' theory is first applied in this work to prepare TiO2 film: a high refractive index rutile TiO2 film is grown by electron beam evaporation on the rutile seed formed by 1100 degrees C annealing. The average n is larger than 2.4, by far the highest in all the authors' TiO2 films. The films are characterised by optical properties, microstructure and surface morphologies. It is found that the refractive index shows positive relation with the crystal structure, grain size, and packing density and roughness of the film. The film has lower density of granularity and nodule defects on the surface than those of the film deposited by magnetron sputtering. The result shows attractive application in complex filter and laser coatings.

Magnetic quantum oscillations for the surface states of topological insulator Bi2Se3

We study quantum oscillations of the magnetization in Bi2Se3 (111) surface system in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. The combined spin-chiral Dirac cone and Landau quantization produce profound effects on the magnetization properties that are fundamentally different from those in the conventional semiconductor two-dimensional electron gas. In particular, we show that the oscillating center in the magnetization chooses to pick up positive or negative values depending on whether the zero-mode Landau level is occupied or empty. An intuitive analysis of these features is given and the subsequent effects on the magnetic susceptibility and Hall conductance are also discussed.

Impact of thickness of GaN buffer layer on properties of AlN/GaN distributed Bragg reflectors grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

We studied the impact of the thickness of GaN buffer layer on the properties of distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The samples were characterized by using metallographic microscope, transmission electron microscope (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and spectrophotometer. The results show that the thickness of the GaN buffer layer can significantly affect the properties of the DBR structure and there is an optimal thickness of the GaN buffer layer. This work would be helpful for the growth of high quality DBR structures.

Structural and electrical properties of (110) ZnO epitaxial thin films on (001) SrTiO3 substrates

(110) oriented ZnO thin films were epitaxially prepared on (001) SrTiO3 single crystal substrates by a pulsed laser deposition method. The evolution of structure, surface morphology, and electrical conductivity of ZnO films was investigated on changing the growth temperature. Two domain configurations with 90 degrees rotation to each other in the film plane were found to exist to reduce the lattice mismatch between the films and substrates. In the measured temperature range between 80 K and 300 K, the electrical conductivity can be perfectly fitted by a formula of a (T) = sigma(0) + aT(b/2). implying that the electron-phonon scattering might have a significant contribution to the conductivity. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transmission properties of electron in quantum rings

We investigated the transmission probability of a single electron transmission through a quantum ring device based on the single-band effective mass approximation method and transfer matrix theory. The time-dependent Schrodinger equation is applied on a Gaussian wave packet passing through the quantum ring system. The electron tunneling resonance peaks split when the electron transmits through a double quantum ring. The splitting energy increases as the distance between the two quantum rings decreases. We studied the tunneling time through the single electron transmission quantum ring from the temporal evolution of the Gaussian wave packet. The electron probability density is sensitive to the thickness of the barrier between the two quantum rings. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.