Magnetron sputtering of a silicon target in a time-variant mixture of the reactive gases oxygen and nitrogen allows the
deposition of optical multilayer and gradient layer systems of silicon oxinitride at one stationary sputtering station. In
this paper the processes within the sputter discharge and the properties of the growing film during the change of the
reactive gas composition are investigated using optical in-situ monitoring, optical plasma emission spectroscopy and
plasma impedance monitoring. A time delay between the change to the reactive gas composition and the resulting change
to the film composition was observed. The time delay is longer for the transition from oxide to nitride deposition then
vice versa. This asymmetry is attributed to the different affinity of nitrogen and oxygen to the silicon target. Examples of
deposited antireflective coatings as well as rugate filters based on silicon oxinitride multilayer and gradient layer designs are given.
Evaporation and reactive pulse magnetron sputtering are two methods to deposit broadband antireflection coatings at low temperatures. The performance of broadband antireflective coatings on polycarbonate (PC) deposited by these methods is shown. Plasma-treatment of the plastic substrates has an important effect on the adhesion of the coating system on the substrate. For sputtering different parameter sets for the pre-treatment as well as the deposition pressure and their effect on adhesion were examined for polycarbonate substrates. Furthermore evaporation and reactive pulse magnetron sputtering were compared with regard to the adhesion of broadband antireflective coatings on PC.
Optical coatings have been deposited by pulse magnetron sputtering of the target materials silicon and aluminium using the reactive gases oxygen, nitrogen and fluorine. The measured refractive index and roughness of the SiO2, Si3N4, Ta2O5 and Al2O3 films indicate the deposition of very dense and smooth films. Absorption of SiO2 and Al2O3 films is low even at a wavelength of 193nm. The sputter deposited AlF3 layers have low absorption until 150 nm but then show an absorption edge. Examples of multilayer include antireflective coatings for ophthalmic lenses and cut filters consisting of up to 150 λ/4 layers. These films were produced at a single stationary coating station without interruption of film deposition by changing the reactive gas during the plasma process. This process was also used for the deposition of rugate filters with apodisation function by continuous variation of the reactive gas composition during the deposition.
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