Oxygen partial pressure dependent optical properties of glancing angle deposited (GLAD) Ta_2O_5 films deposited by magnetron sputtering

摘要

Experiments were carried out on Ta_2O_5 oxide thin films by asymmetric bipolar pulsed DC magnetron sputtering using a new hybrid combination of conventional (normal incidence) deposition and glancing angle deposition (GLAD) geometries. The films were prepared with varying O_2 partial pressure. The ellipsometry characterization reveals a systematic variation in refractive index, which decreased from 2.2 in the normal films to an average 1.78 in the GLAD films. The bandgap of these GLAD films is slightly higher as compared to normal films. Overall transmission of the GLAD films is increased is by ～ 15 % implying a reduction in the refractive index for potential optical filtering device applications. The results were further supported by X-ray reflectivity measurements which show an effective double layer structure in GLAD consisting of layers with different densities of the same Ta_2O_5 material.