Comparison of femtosecond and nanosecond laser-induced damage in HfO2 single-layer film and HfO2-SiO2 high reflector

HfO2 single layers, 800 run high-reflective (HR) coating, and 1064 ran HR coating were prepared by electron-beam evaporation. The laser-induced damage thresholds (LIDTs) and damage morphologies of these samples were investigated with single-pulse femtosecond and nanosecond lasers. It is found that the LIDT of the HfO2 single layer is higher than the HfO2-SiO2 HR coating in the femtosecond regime, while the situation is opposite in the nanosecond regime. Different damage mechanisms are applied to study this phenomenon. Damage morphologies of all samples due to different laser irradiations are displayed. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Preparation of high laser induced damage threshold antireflection film using interrupted ion assisted deposition

Single layers and antireflection films were deposited by electron beam evaporation, ion assisted deposition and interrupted ion assisted deposition, respectively. Antireflection film of quite high laser damage threshold (18J/cm(2)) deposited by interrupted ion assisted deposition were got. The electric field distribution, weak absorption, and residual stress of films and their relations to damage threshold were investigated. It was shown that the laser induced damage threshold of film was the result of competition of disadvantages and advantages, and interrupted ion assisted deposition was one of the valuable methods for preparing high laser induced damage threshold films. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America

The effect of diffusion and overhangs/vacancies on the microstructure of zig-zag thin film

Basing on some growth models of thin film, we have investigated the growth mechanism of glancing angle deposition (GLAD) film. The simulation verifies that the overhangs/vacancies also contribute to the columnar growth as well as the self-shadowing effect for GLAD thin film. Besides, we have studied the effect of the deposition rate, surface and bulk diffusions on the microstructure of thin film using the time-dependent Monte Carlo method. The results show that the surface and bulk diffusions can significantly enhance the packing density of thin film in GLAD growth, and the increase of the deposition rate induce the moderate decrease of the packing density. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optimization of thin-film design for multi-layer dielectric grating

Thin-film design used to fabricate multi-layer dielectric (MLD) gratings should provide high transmittance during holography exposure, high reflectance at use wavelength and sufficient manufacturing latitude of the grating design making the MLD grating achieve both high diffraction efficiency and low electric field enhancement. Based on a (HLL)H-9 design comprising of quarter-waves of high-index material and half-waves of low-index material, we obtain an optimum MLD coating meeting these requirements by inserting a matching layer being half a quarter-wave of Al2O3 between the initial design and an optimized HfO2 top layer. The optimized MLD coatings exhibits a low reflectance of 0.017% under photoresist at the exposure angle of 17.8 degrees for 413 nm light and a high reflectance of 99.61% under air at the use angle of 51.2 degrees for 1053 nm light. Numerical calculation of intensity distribution in the photoresist coated on the MLD film during exposure shows that standing-wave patterns are greatly minimized and thus simulation profile of photoresist gratings after development demonstrates smoother shapes with lower roughness. Furthermore, a MLD gratings with grooves etched into the top layer of this MLD coating provides a high diffraction efficiency of 99.5% and a low electric field enhancement ratio of 1.53. This thin-film design shows perfect performances and can be easily fabricated by e-beam evaporation. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optical properties and microstructure of Ta2O5 biaxial film

This study investigates the optical properties and microstructure of Ta2O5 film deposited with the glancing angle deposition technique. The tilted nanocolumn microstructure, examined with scanning electron microscopy, induces the optical anisotropy of thin film. The optical properties of thin film are characterized with an inverse synthesis method. Based on the Cauchy model, the dispersion equations of optical constants of film are determined from the transmittance spectra measured at normal and oblique incidence over 400-800 nm. The starting values derived with an envelope method quicken the optimization process greatly. The dispersion of the principal indices N-1, N-2, and N-3 and the thickness d of thin film are presented statistically. A good agreement between the measured optical properties and theoretical calculation is obtained, which validates the model established for thin film produced by glancing angle deposition. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America

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.

A highly efficient light-trapping structure for thin-film silicon solar cells

A highly efficient light-trapping structure, consisting of a diffractive grating, a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and a metal reflector was proposed. As an example, the proposed light-trapping structure with an indium tin oxide (ITO) diffraction grating, an a-Si:H/ITO DBR and an Ag reflector was optimized by the simulation via rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) for a 2.0-mu m-thick c-Si solar cell with an optimized ITO front antireflection (AR) layer under the air mass 1.5 (AM1.5) solar illumination. The weighted absorptance under the AM1.5 solar spectrum (A(AM1.5)) of the solar cell can reach to 69%, if the DBR is composed of 4 pairs of a-Si:H/ITOs. If the number of a-Si:H/ITO pairs is up to 8, a larger A(AM1.5) of 72% can be obtained. In contrast, if the Ag reflector is not adopted, the combination of the optimized ITO diffraction grating and the 8-pair a-Si:H/ITO DBR can only result in an A(AM1.5) of 68%. As the reference, A(AM1.5) = 31% for the solar cell only with the optimized ITO front AR layer. So, the proposed structure can make the sunlight highly trapped in the solar cell. The adoption of the metal reflector is helpful to obtain highly efficient light-trapping effect with less number of DBR pairs, which makes that such light-trapping structure can be fabricated easily.

Ferromagnetic modification of GaN film by Cu+ ions implantation

The structural and magnetic properties of Cu+ ions-implanted GaN films have been reported. Eighty kilo-electron-volt Cu+ ions were implanted into n-type GaN film at room temperature with fluences ranging from 1 x 10(16) to 8 x 10(16) cm(-2) and subsequently annealed at 800 degrees C for 1 h in N-2 ambient. PIXE was employed to determine the Cu-implanted content. The magnetic property was measured by the Quantum Design MPMS SQUID magnetometer. No secondary phases or clusters were detected within the sensitivity of XRD. Raman spectrum measurement showed that the Cu ions incorporated into the crystal lattice positions of GaN through substitution of Ga atoms. Apparent ferromagnetic hysteresis loops measured at 10 K were presented. The experimental result showed that the ferromagnetic signal strongly increased with Cu-implanted fluence from 1 x 10(16) to 8 x 10(16) cm(-2).

Role of Bi3+ ions for Er3+ ions efficient 1.54 mu m light emission in Er/Bi codoped SiO2 thin film prepared by sol-gel method

Er/Bi codoped SiO2 thin films were prepared by sol-gel method and spin-on technology with subsequent annealing process. The bismuth silicate crystal phase appeared at low annealing temperature while vanished as annealing temperature exceeded 1000 degrees C, characterized by X-ray diffraction, and Rutherford backscattering measurements well explained the structure change of the films, which was due to the decrease of bismuth concentration. Fine structures of the Er3+-related 1.54 mu m light emission (line width less than 7 nm) at room temperature was observed by photoluminescence (PL) measurement. The PL intensity at 1.54 gm reached maximum at 800 degrees C and decreased dramatically at 1000 degrees C. The PL dependent annealing temperature was studied and suggested a clear link with bismuth silicate phase. Excitation spectrum measurements further reveal the role of Bi3+ ions for Er3+ ions near infrared light emission. Through sol-gel method and thermal treatment, Bi3+ ions can provide a perfect environment for Er3+ ion light emission by forming Er-Bi-Si-O complex. Furthermore, energy transfer from Bi3+ ions to Er3+ ions is evidenced and found to be a more efficient way for Er3+ ions near infrared emission. This makes the Bi3+ ions doped material a promising application for future erbium-doped waveguide amplifier and infrared LED

Promoting strain relaxation of Si0.72Ge0.28 film on Si (100) substrate by inserting a low-temperature Ge islands layer in UHVCVD

A flat, fully strain-relaxed Si0.72Ge0.28 thin film was grown on Si (1 0 0) substrate with a combination of thin low-temperature (LT) Ge and LT-Si0.72Ge0.28 buffer layers by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition. The strain relaxation ratio in the Si0.72Ge0.28 film was enhanced up to 99% with the assistance of three-dimensional Ge islands and point defects introduced in the layers, which furthermore facilitated an ultra-low threading dislocation density of 5 x 10(4) cm (2) for the top SiGe film. More interestingly, no cross-hatch pattern was observed on the SiGe surface and the surface root-mean-square roughness was less than 2 nm. The temperature for the growth of LT-Ge layer was optimized to be 300 degrees C. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enhanced mid-infrared transmission in heavily doped n-type semiconductor film based on surface plasmons

Transmission of electromagnetic wave in a heavily doped n-type GaAs film is studied theoretically. From the calculations, an extraordinary transmission of p-polarized waves through the film with subwavelength grooves on both surfaces at mid-infrared frequencies is found. This extraordinary transmission is attributed to the coupling of the surface-plasmon polariton modes and waveguide modes. By selecting a set of groove parameters, the transmission is optimized to a maximum. Furthermore, the transmission can be tuned by dopant concentrations. As the dopant concentration increases, the peak position shifts to higher frequency but the peak value decreases.

Cathodoluminescence study of GaN-based film structures

GaN films grown on sapphire substrate with an emphasis on epitaxial lateral overgrown (ELOG) layers with an array of rhombic shaped mask area as well as InGaN/GaN MQW laser diode layer structures were investigated by cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy and CL imaging at room and low temperatures. The microscopic imaging with a high-spatial resolution clearly reveals the distribution of threading dislocations and point defects in ELOG GaN films. The secondary electron and CL data measured on cleaved faces of laser diodes are analyzed in consideration with luminescence mechanisms in semiconductor heterostructures and around the p - n junction, providing important information on the defects and carrier dynamics in laser diode devices.

Interface as the origin of ferromagnetism in cobalt doped ZnO film grown on silicon substrate

We have investigated the magnetic properties of Co-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) film deposited on silicon substrate by magnetron sputtering. Co ions have a valence of 2+ and substitute for Zn sites in the lattice. By using a chemical etching method, an extrinsic ferromagnetism was demonstrated. The observed ferromagnetism is neither associated with magnetic precipitates nor with contamination, but originates from the silicon/silicon oxide interface. This interface ferromagnetism is characterized by being temperature independent and by having a parallel magnetic anisotropy. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.2989128]