This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 7067, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction (if any), and the Conference Committee listing.

Narrow notch and multi-notch thin-film filters have applications in many fields. Raman spectroscopy and laser-based fluorescence instruments both desire filters that can remove one or more narrow spectral bands while maintaining high transmittance for light at adjacent wavelengths. Key figures of merit for notch filters include the width of the notch as a fraction of the blocked wavelength (narrower is better), the degree of suppression, and the overall transmittance of the filter. Design approaches for narrowband notch and multi-notch filters are well-known, and include rugate or "quasi-rugate" designs. The manufacturing of these filters has proven to be challenging. The filters have to be very thick to achieve high suppression, and typically involve the deposition of gradient index layers or many very thin, discrete layers. Accurate spectral placement of the notches often requires extreme process control or post-deposition tuning of the filter. JDSU has recently developed a design and manufacturing capability for single and multi-notch filters in the visible wavelength region where the notch width is less than 2% and the blocking levels are greater than OD 6. Designs for these types of filters can be 20 - 60 &mgr;m thick and consist of more than 1,000 layers. Our Ucp-1 high-rate magnetron sputtering platform with load-lock provides an inherently stable deposition process. This enables us to coat these challenging designs. In this paper, we present examples of both single and multi-notch filters that have 612 to 4410 layers and are 31 to 127 &mgr;m thick.

Earlier publications described a novel approach to the design of mirror coatings for scanning Fabry Perot etalons[1],[2]. Since that time, we have extended the design process, fabricated mirror coatings and used them to build etalons. One design process improvement is the minimization of off-axis de-tuning. It can be significantly worse with a real mirror coating than the normal "blue shift" associated with the basic Fabry-Perot geometry. This option provides for the control of de-tuning in optimization. Another improvement is optimization for multiple-order operation of the etalon. This technique reduces etalon mirror travel while allowing tunability over a broad spectral range. The focus of this paper, however, is the experimental results obtained for coatings and etalons built for the Fine Guidance Sensor-Tunable Filter Imager (FGS-TFI) - a Canadian Space Agency funded science instrument for the James Web Space Telescope (JWST). We present measured data for both the coating and the etalon performance.

A first generation of dielectric rib waveguides has been designed and shaped to support a monomode confinement by using organosilicon materials elaborated by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Optical losses have been measured around 5.5dB.cm^-1 and 11.5dB.cm^-1 for TE₀₀ and TM₀₀ modes, respectively. Then, synthesis of titanium dioxide thin films by PECVD has been investigated to improve optical and propagation properties. The first results on these films exhibit a refractive index around 1.99 at a 633 nm wavelength with a 380 nm optical gap. When an rf bias is applied to the substrate, the refractive index reaches 2.36, from -5V, without significant optical gap variation.

The sensitivities of two optical monitoring methods were discussed in monitoring the growth of a thin film on different pre-coatings. One of the monitoring methods, the most popular one, based on the transmittance or reflection shows the monitoring diagram as runsheet. The other one, a new optical monitoring method called "Admittance Real-time Monitoring" (ARM) based on the equivalent optical admittance shows the monitoring diagram as admittance diagram. The sensitivity varies with the growth of the film and deeply affects the precision of optical monitoring. In this investigation, the relationship between sensitivity and pre-coating and the relationship between sensitivity and film thickness were compared in runsheet and admittance diagram.

Advanced designs of specialty films have led to the need for better measurement tools to confirm product quality. One of the most critical parameters of specialty films is thickness measurement. Increasing demands for improved precision and repeatability require the ability to measure films as thin as 1 nm and as thick as 1 mm or more. Although several commercial devices and techniques based on ellipsometry, spectrophotometry, eddy current, and ultrasound exist, and have adequately addressed the needs of layer thickness measurements in the past, they are not capable of such precision. In this paper, we describe a new technique for measuring the thickness and constant of dielectrics for ultra thin, thin and thick films. This technique uses Corona Discharges as a source of ions and non-contact Surface Potential measurements. Corona-assisted Surface Potential measurements are excellent tool in measuring film thicknesses as thin as 1 nm and as thick as 1 mm. Experimental results show that Surface Potential variations are directly related to the thickness and to the dielectric constant of contaminants or oxides. A model fitting with these results is proposed and discussed.

As deep ultra-violet (DUV) wavelength optical systems progress towards higher numerical aperture (NA), at least some of the lens surfaces in the system approach almost complete hemispherical shape and some of the lens surfaces have very high angle of incidence (AOI) requirements. The antireflection (AR) coating designs for such lens surfaces must address intensity apodization due to coating thickness nonuniformity and polarization purity. We present some of the recent results in the area of DUV coatings that highlight these challenges and demonstrate production capability.

Phase aberration induced by optical coatings can be a critical factor in image quality. When multilayer thin film high reflectors are used at oblique incidence, the two planes of polarization for the most part have different phase shift. This difference is known as phase retardance and is a function of the angle of incidence, coating design, and the spectral wavelength. Point spread function (PSF) calculation by geometrical ray tracing shows the phase aberration caused by the coating could influence the resolution of the lens system. In this paper we investigate phase retardance of three high reflector coating types and their impact on the final image quality in a Schwarzschild objective.

Nanocomposites are created by doping host polymers with nanoparticles that typically have higher or lower refractive indices. The ability to tailor the mechanical and optical performance of these composites has led to their increased use in transparent materials. Nanocomposites maintain the elastic properties of the binding polymers and exhibit infinite refractive index tunability between the limits of the system. These unique properties provide distinct benefits for multilayer, thin-film optical filters. Because the nanoparticles are dispersed in a fluid or bound in a polymer matrix in use, toxicity risks that may be associated with raw particles are reduced. Using a stable dispersion of titanium dioxide nanoparticles and a UV curable monomer, we were able to design and produce several quarter-wave filters that demonstrate control of the height and width of the passband through adjustment of the organic/inorganic ratio and layer count. The volume loading of the metal oxides can be adjusted from zero to near the theoretical packing density of spheres, allowing refractive index to be controlled over a large range. Because metal oxide particles exhibit high UV absorption, these additives provide UV protection to the host polymer and the filter's substrate. Additionally, significant improvements in abrasion resistance are often observed in films loaded with nanoparticles at the concentrations of interest.

Zinc oxide is a promising a wide band gap material for optoelectronic applications. Alloying ZnO with MgO gives the possibility of band gap tuning and fabrication of engineered heterostructures for optoelectronic applications. In this paper we report the growth of c-axis oriented crystalline Zn_1-xMg_xO thin films on amorphous silica and p-type silicon (100) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The dependence of optical properties on Mg content in the Zn_1-xMg_xO films were investigated. All the films are highly transparent in the visible region. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images shows the films are very smooth. Heterojunction diodes were fabricated by depositing n-type Zn_1-xMg_xO on p-type silicon. Rectification is observed with a ratio of forward to reverse current as high as 1000 in the range -5 to +5 V. The forward bias current-voltage characteristics indicate the current is dominated by single carrier injection in to the p-Si. The capacitance measurements show a strong frequency dispersion, which can be attributed to the traps at the interface.

TiO2 films are extensively used in various applications including optical multi-layers, sensors, photo catalysis, environmental purification, and solar cells etc. These are prepared by both vacuum and non-vacuum methods. In this paper, we present the results on TiO2 thin films prepared by a sol-gel spin coating process in non-aqueous solvent. Titanium isopropoxide is used as TiO2 precursor. The films were annealed at different temperatures up to 3000 C for 5 hours in air. The influence of the various deposition parameters like spinning speed, spinning time and annealing temperature on the thickness of the TiO2 films has been studied. The variation of film thickness with time in ambient atmosphere was also studied. The optical, structural and morphological characteristics were investigated by optical transmittance-reflectance measurements, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) respectively. The refractive index and extinction coefficient of the films were determined by envelope technique and spectroscopic ellipsometry. TiO2 films exhibited high transparency (92%) in the visible region with a refractive index of 2.04 at 650 nm. The extinction coefficient was found to be negligibly small. The X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the TiO2 film deposited on glass substrate changes from amorphous to crystalline (anatase) phase with annealing temperature above 2500 C. SEM results show that the deposited films are uniform and crack free.

SiO_x(x~1) films were prepared by the ion-assisted deposition (IAD) process. The films were evaporated from silicon monoxide with and without simultaneous Ar⁺ bombardment. As analyzed by using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy measurements, the films showed amorphous structures. The stoichiometry of each film was determined by using both infrared spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry. The results revealed that the oxygen content of the SiO_x thin films was slightly varied under the different conditions of Ar+ bombardment. The optical constants of the SiO_x thin films in the mid-infrared range were measured using an infrared variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometer. The variation of these refracting indices was mainly related to the packing density. The results presented in this work showed the possibilities of controlling the stoichiometry and the refracting index of the SiO_x thin film by the application of IAD process.

Plasma display panel is one of the most potential flat devices for large-size displays. Magnesium oxide thin films have been used as a protective layer to improve discharge characteristics and the lifetime of panel. So magnesium oxide thin film is worthy to be studied. Magnesium oxide thin films were prepared by e-beam gun evaporation at a substrate temperature of 200°C. Heat annealing treatment and ion assisted deposition effect on thin films were investigated. The relation between these characteristics of films has been studied. The characteristics of the deposited films, including optical properties, crystalline structure, and microstructure were discussed.

One method of adjusting the characteristic deviations of Guided mode resonant filters (GMRFs) induced by preparing errors is derived by using the cover layer of GMRFs. The investigations of GMRFs are reported widely for their merits such as high efficiency, narrow bandwidth and low sideband. But there are few reports about the preparation and commercial application of GMRFs. The reason for this is that the characteristics of GMRFs are strict with the error of preparation. The data of this paper shows the linear relationship between the grating depth and the resonant wavelength in the grating depth error range of 0-12 nm. It is shown that the cover layer of GMRFs has adjusting effect on the characteristics of GMRFs. Through choosing material and adjusting the thickness of cover layer, these deviations induced by preparing errors cay be adjusted perfectly.

SiNx thin films deposited by RF ion-beam sputtering have been investigated. The influence of composition of Nitrogen (N2) and Argon (Ar) gases and ion-beam voltages on the refractive index and extinction coefficient of SiNx films was discussed. By varying the amount of N2 and Ar flow and ion-beam voltage, the optimal refractive index, extinction coefficient (at wavelength of 550 nm) and deposition rate were 2.07, 8* 10-5 and 0.189 nm/s, respectively. The residual stress of the SiNx films varied from -1.38 to -2.17GPa depending on the ion-beam voltage. To maintain the good optical properties and reduce the residual stress of films deposited at ion-beam voltage 1300V, one may decrease the ion-beam current. Alternatively, one may introduce interfaces between layers. 770MPa of the residual stress was reduced as a film was divided into four layers with three interfaces.

Surface and material properties of dielectric Ga₂O₃ thin films deposited onto GaAs substrate with different annealing temperature were studied via a variety of techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The effects of annealing are investigated. The increase of ratio of oxygen to gallium assuredly as the annealing temperature increased was found. The relationship between the interface quality and annealing temperature is identified.

Titanium oxide (TiO2) thin films were prepared by ion-beam-assisted deposition(IAD) on glass substrates at different substrate temperatures. The effect of the stabilities of the optical properties, residual stress and surface roughness by re-annealing were investigated. Thermal annealing is a very useful process to improve the stoichiometry of optical oxide films, particularly for titanium oxide. The evolution of oxidation and the reason of the change in stress during annealing have been discussed. XRD revealed that all films were amorphous at as-deposited. As the substrate temperature increased from 150ºC, 200ºC to 250ºC, the re-crystallization temperature fell from 300ºC, through 250ºC to 200ºC during annealing process. In the re-annealing process, the films would be annealing again and stop the annealing at the temperature of re-crystallization. The refractive indices and extinction coefficients didn't have large fluctuations during the re-annealing process for all films deposited at different substrate temperatures. At substrate temperatures of 200ºC and 250ºC had the high refraction indices and low extinction coefficients than substrate temperature of 150ºC during re-annealing processes. The residual stress had small variations during the re-annealing process. The situation also appeared on the surface roughness. However, the substrate temperature of 150ºC had a great transform than 200ºC and 250ºC during the re-annealing process. Therefore, these results all reveal that the TiO2 films after thermal annealing became more stable than as-deposited, and it was especially useful for the films deposited at substrate temperature of 150ºC.

The Ni films replacing photoresist serve as a mask to selectively deposit optical thin films at a substrate temperature of 300°C by an electron-beam gun evaporation. The photolithograph is used to define the growth of Ni films by an electroforming technique. Mosaic patterns with a width of 20&mgr;m are chosen as an arrangement of red color filters. The red filters are formed of alternate SiO2 and TiO2 layers and the average transmittance of red filters is larger than 90%. The experimental results successfully illustrate that the combinative uses of photolithography, electroforming and electron-beam gun evaporation can make miniaturized multilayer dielectric coatings with high light transmittance in a hot deposition.