Influence of annealing temperature on structure, optical loss and laser-induced damage threshold of TiO2 thin films

TiO2 thin films are prepared on fused silica with conventional electron beam evaporation deposition. After annealed at different temperatures for 4h, the spectra and XRD patterns of the TiO2 thin film are obtained. Weak absorption of coatings is measured by the surface thermal lensing technique, and laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) is determined. It is found that with the increasing annealing temperature, the transmittance of TiO2 films decreases. Especially when coatings are annealed at high temperature over 1173K, the optical loss is very serious. Weak absorption detection indicates that the absorption of coatings decreases firstly and then increases, and the absorption and defects play major roles in the LIDT of TiO2 thin films.

Influence of substrate temperature on properties of MgF2 coatings

Thermal boat evaporation was employed to prepare MgF2 single-layer coatings upon both JGS1 and UBK7 substrates at different substrate temperatures. Microstructure, transmittance and residual stress of these coatings were measured by X-ray diffraction, spectrophotometer, and optical interferometer, respectively. Measurement of laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) of the samples was performed at 355 nm, 8 ns pulses. The results showed that high substrate temperature was beneficial to crystallization of the film. Above 244 degrees C, the refractive index increased gradually with the substrate temperature rising. Whereas, it was exceptional at 210 degrees C that the refractive index was higher than those deposited at 244 and 277 degrees C. The tensile residual stresses were exhibited in all MgF2 films, but not well correlated with the substrate temperature. In addition, the stresses were comparatively smaller upon JGS1 substrates. A tendency could be seen that the LIDTs reached the highest values at about 244 degrees C, and the films upon JGS1 had higher LIDTs than those upon UBK7 substrates at the same temperature. Meanwhile, the damage morphologies showed that the laser damage of the coating resulted from an absorbing center at the film-substrate interface. The features of the damages were displayed by an absorbing center dominated model. Furthermore, the reason of the difference in LIDT values was discussed in detail. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of deposition conditions on the microstructure of oxides thin films

Thin films of ZrO2, HfO2 and TiO2 were deposited on kinds of substrates by electron beam evaporation (EB), ion assisted deposition (IAD) and dual ion beam sputtering (DIBS). Then some of them were annealed at different temperatures. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was applied to determine the crystalline phase and the grain size of these films, and the results revealed that their microstructures strongly depended on the deposition conditions such as substrate, deposition temperature, deposition method and annealing temperature. Theory of crystal growth and migratory diffusion were applied to explain the difference of crystalline structures between these thin films deposited and treated under various conditions. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of oxygen plasma treatment on properties of ZrO2 films prepared by e-beam evaporation techniques

Zirconia films were prepared by e-beam evaporation, and oxygen plasma treatment was used to modify film properties. Spectrophotometry, x-ray diffractometry (XRD), and atomic force microscopy were used to characterize refractive index, extinction coefficient, rnicrostructure, and surface roughness, respectively. The experimental results indicate that both refractive index and extinction coefficient of the films were reduced slightly after oxygen plasma treatment, with the decrease of intrinsic stress and surface roughness. From XRD spectra, the intensity decrease of the T(110) diffraction peak was clearly observed after the treatment, which was caused by the restructuring of the film atoms. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of ytterbia content on residual stress and microstructure of Y2O3-ZrO2 thin films prepared by EB-PVD

Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ) thin films with different Y2O3 molar contents (0, 3, 7, and 12 mol%) are deposited on BK7 substrates by electron-beam evaporation technique. The effects of different Y2O3 contents on residual stresses and structures of YSZ thin films are studied. Residual stresses are investigated by means of two different techniques: the curvature measurement and x- ray diffraction method. It is found that the evolution of residual stresses of YSZ thin films by the two different methods is consistent. Residual stresses of films transform from compressive stress into tensile stress and the tensile stress increases monotonically with the increase of Y2O3 content. At the same time, the structures of these films change from the mixture of amorphous and monoclinic phases into high temperature cubic phase. The variations of residual stress correspond to the evolution of structures induced by adding of Y2O3 content.

Influence of SiO2 additional layers on the laser induced damage threshold of Ta2O5 films

A series or Ta2O5 films with different SiO2 additional layers including overcoat, undercoat and interlayer was prepared by electron beam evaporation under the same deposition process. Absorption of samples was measured using the surface thermal lensing (STL) technique. The electric field distributions of the samples were theoretical predicted using thin film design software (TFCalc). The laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) was assessed using an Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064 nm with a pulse length of 12 ns. It was found that SiO2 additional layers resulted in a slight increase of the absorption, whereas they exerted little influence on the microdefects. The electric field distribution among the samples was unchanged by adding an SiO2 overcoat and undercoat, yet was changed by adding an interlayer. SiO2 undercoat. The interlayer improved the LIDT greatly, whereas the SiO2 overcoat had little effect on the LIDT. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of different substrates on laser induced damage thresholds at 1064 nm of Ta2O5 films

Ta2O5 films are prepared on Si, BK7, fused silica, antireflection (AR) and high reflector (HR) substrates by electron beam evaporation method, respectively. Both the optical property and laser induced damage thresholds (LIDTs) at 1064 nm of Ta2O5 films on different substrates are investigated before and after annealing at 673 K for 12h. It is shown that annealing increases the refractive index and decreases the extinction index, and improves the O/Ta ratio of the Ta2O5 films from 2.42 to 2.50. Moreover, the results show that the LIDTs of the Ta2O5 films are mainly correlated with three parameters: substrate property, substoichiometry defect in the films and impurity defect at the interface between the substrate and the films. Details of the laser induced damage models in different cases are discussed.

Influence of ZrO2 in HfO2 on reflectance of HfO2/SiO2 multilayer at 248 nm prepared by electron-beam evaporation

Influence of ZrO2 in HfO2 on the reflectance of HfO2/SiO2 multilayer at 248 nm was investigated. Two kinds of HfO2 with different ZrO2 content were chosen as high refractive index material and the same kind of SiO2 as low refractive index material to prepare the mirrors by electron-beam evaporation. The impurities in two kinds of HfO2 starting coating materials and in their corresponding single layer thin films were determined through glow discharge mass spectrum (GDMS) technology and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) equipment, respectively. It showed that between the two kinds of HfO2, either the bulk materials or their corresponding films, the difference of ZrO2 was much larger than that of the other impurities such as Ti and Fe. It is the Zr element that affects the property of thin films. Both in theoretical and in experimental, the mirror prepared with the HfO2 starting material containing more Zr content has a lower reflectance. Because the extinction coefficient of zirconia is relatively high in UV region, it can be treated as one kind of absorbing defects to influence the optical property of the mirrors. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of oxygen post-treatment on laser-induced damage of antireflection coatings prepared by electron-beam evaporation and ion beam assisted deposition

Antireflection coatings at the center wavelength of 1053 nm were prepared on BK7 glasses by electron-beam evaporation deposition (EBD) and ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD). Parts of the two kinds of samples were post-treated with oxygen plasma at the environment temperature after deposition. Absorption at 1064 nm was characterized based on surface thermal lensing (STL) technique. The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) was measured by a 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser with a pulse width of 38 ps. Leica-DMRXE Microscope was applied to gain damage morphologies of samples. The results revealed that oxygen post-treatment could lower the absorption and increase the damage thresholds for both kinds of as-grown samples. However, the improving effects are not the same. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of laser preconditioning on the capacity of optical films to resist laser-induced damage

As a technique to improve the ability of optical films to resist laser-induced damage (ARLID), laser preconditioning has been investigated broadly. In this paper, the laser preconditioning effect has been analyzed based on the defect-initialized damage mechanism that the author had put forward previously. Theoretical results show that an energy density scope (PEDS) exists in which the preconditioning laser can effectively improve the ARLID of optical films. In addition, when the energy density of the testing laser pulse is altered, the boundary of PEDS will change accordingly. Experimental results have verified these theoretical assumptions. PEDS will also become wider if the critical energy density of the preconditioning laser that can induce films' micro-damage increases, or the critical energy density of the preconditioning laser that can cause laser annealing decreases. In these cases, it is relatively easy to improve the ARLID of optical films. Results of the current work show great significance in enhancing the ARLID of optical films through the laser preconditioning technique. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of substoichiometer on the laser-induced damage characters of HfO2 thin films

HfO2 is one of the most important high refractive index materials for depositing high power optical mirrors. In this research, HfO2 thin films were prepared by dual-ion beam reactive sputtering method, and the laser-induced damage thresholds (LIDT) of the sample were measured in 1-on-1 mode for laser with 1064 nm wavelength. The results indicate that the LIDT of the as-grown sample is only 3.96 J/cm(2), but it is increased to 8.98 J/cm(2) after annealing under temperature of 200 degrees C in atmosphere. By measuring the laser weak absorption and SIMS of the samples, we deduced that substoichiometer is the main reason for the low LIDT of the as-grown sample, and the experiment results were well explained with the theory of electronic-avalanche ionization. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.