AVS 47th International Symposium
    Thin Films Thursday Sessions
       Session TF-ThM

Invited Paper TF-ThM8
Art and Science of Fabricating Optical Coatings by PECVD

Thursday, October 5, 2000, 10:40 am, Room 203

Session: Optical Films
Presenter: L. Martinu, Ecole Polytechnique, Canada
Authors: L. Martinu, Ecole Polytechnique, Canada
D. Poitras, National Research Council of Canada
Correspondent: Click to Email
Low pressure plasma deposition using gas phase precursors is being increasingly used for the fabrication of dielectric optical films and coatings. This includes single-layer, multilayer, graded index and nanocomposite optical thin film systems for applications such as optical filters, antireflective coatings, optical waveguides and others. Besides their optical properties (refractive index, extinction coefficient, optical loss), these systems very frequently offer other desirable "functional" characteristics such as hardness, scratch-, abrasion- and wear resistance, adhesion to various technologically important substrate materials such as polymers, hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity, long-term chemical, thermal and environmental stability, and others. In this presentation, we review advances in the development of plasma processes and plasma systems, in the synthesis of high- and low index optical thin film materials, and in the control of plasma-surface interactions leading to desired film microstructures. We particularly underline the specific aspects of PECVD which are different from other conventional techniques used for optical films; this includes in particular fabrication of graded index (inhomogeneous) layers, high deposition rate, control of interfaces, enhanced mechanical and other functional characteristics, and industrial scale-up.