Silver-based telescope mirrors excel in the visible infrared but require protective coatings to overcome low durability. A single-layer of aluminum oxide (AlOx) deposited through atomic layer deposition (ALD) using trimethylaluminum and water (H2O) at low temperatures (∼60°C) protects the silver without adversely impacting the optical performance of the mirrors, but in environmental tests under high humidity at high temperatures, they degrade quickly. This paper compares the performance of AlOx-protected silver-based mirrors using two oxygen precursors: H2O and pure ozone (PO). Initially comparable, the reflectance of the PO-prepared samples shows a 17% improvement over those prepared with H2O after environmental testing.
Silver (Ag) excels as a metal-base for astronomical mirrors for its high reflectivity across the visible to infrared spectral range. However, Ag degrades quickly in an observatory environment, necessitating a protective coating like aluminum oxide (AlOx). Our study compares using water (H2O) and high-purity ozone (PO) as oxygen precursors for AlOx a protective coating on Ag using low-temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD). At ~80% purity, PO allows for higher quality films compared to that of H2O, while offering a reduced deposition time. After enduring high humidity high temperature (HTHH) testing, H2O samples showed a substantial reduction in reflectivity (~30%), while PO samples boasted a minimal reflectivity reduction (~12%). Ellipsometry revealed a 74 nm phase shift, compared to a 6 nm shift for H2O and PO respectively; indicating improved structural integrity. AFM and EDS analysis revealed H2O samples underwent erratic structural changes compromising integrity, while PO samples showed minimal structural change.
Silver-based astronomical telescope mirrors (Ag-mirrors) excels in their optical performance across the visible to infrared spectrum. However, without proper safeguarding, they degrade significantly in high temperature/humidity environmental durability tests. Our research explored low-temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) to prepare a 60 nm aluminum oxide (AlOx) protection coating for Ag-mirrors. We compared two oxygen precursors: water (H2O) and high-purity ozone (PO). PO, with over 80% purity, enables efficient ALD processes at lower temperatures, addressing challenges posed by H2O. During environmental tests, PO samples outperformed H2O samples. PO samples exhibited a minimal reduction (12%) in optical reflectance in comparison to H2O samples that showed substantial reduction (30%). Additionally, PO samples displayed a mere 6 nm phase shift in ellipsometry compared to 74 nm of H2O samples, indicating better structural integrity. Structural analysis revealed that H2O samples experienced erratic changes, compromising integrity, while PO samples maintained their original structure.
Using thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD), with trimethylaluminum (TMA) and water (H2O), it was found that coatings of aluminum oxide (AlOx) deposited on silver-based telescope mirrors operate as viable means to both protect the mirrors from corrosion and reap the benefits of the mirrors while only minimally impacting the mirror’s performance. However, as effective as AlOx coatings are in high temperature/high humidity (HTHH) testing, the mirrors tend to catastrophically fail after an extended period of time during the HTHH test. In order to further improve long-term resilience, the use of Pure Ozone (PO) as an oxygen precursor in replacing H2O is proposed and investigated. While the initial reflectance of the samples prepared with PO is slightly lower than those prepared with H2O, they exhibit better resilience during the HTHH test. In this paper, the study on progressive structural changes that occur in silver-based telescope mirrors protected by AlOx is described over several different stages during cyclic HTHH tests (i.e., temperature is cycled between two, high and low, temperatures). Two types of samples are prepared using either H2O or PO as an oxidation precursor and compared. The study reveals that the initial drop in spectral reflectance of the PO samples during the first HTHH cycle is associated with the surface reconfiguring itself in the presence of the extra energy which effectively tempers the surface to gain higher stability.
Although silver-based telescope mirrors excel over other materials such as gold and aluminum in the visible-infrared spectral range, they require robust protective coatings to overcome their inherent low durability. Our research shows that a single-layer of aluminum oxide (AlOx) deposited through thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) using trimethylaluminum (TMA) and water (H2O) at low temperatures (~60°C) serves as an acceptable protection coating without adversely impacting the optical performance of the mirrors. While the use of TMA and H2O as precursors in thermal ALD offers AlOx that performs decently in the field, it degrades quickly in environmental tests under high-humidity at high-temperature conditions, suggesting that there is room to improve. In this paper, two approaches by which ALD processes of AlOx protection coatings can be improved are investigated: exploring another precursor for oxygen and implementing a pre-deposition conditioning. The study is carried out by introducing two new processes – the use of Pure Ozone (PO) and Ozone-Ethylene Radical (OER) in comparison to thermal ALD with TMA and H2O. Our study shows that samples prepared by PO have the initial spectral reflectance lower than that of those prepared by the thermal ALD; however, reflectance of the PO samples remains nearly constant 1.6 times longer in the environmental test, suggesting promising characteristics of AlOx prepared with PO.
Depositing thin films is often limited to a specific deposition process by which precursors are transported and reacted in a deposition environment. In other words, a deposition environment in which two deposition processes are unified should offer a new perception of devising a thin film structure, which galvanizes our combining atomic layer deposition (ALD) and magnetron sputtering (SPU) in a single chamber – sputtering atomic layer augmented deposition (SALAD). The SALAD system offers advantages of both ALD capable of delivering precursor precisely and accurately and SPU versatile in choosing chemical elements. In this paper, the SALAD system is employed to deposit nanocomposites consisting of multiple pairs of an aluminum oxide thin film deposited by ALD and a copper thin film deposited by SPU. Optical properties collected from the nanocomposites show distinctive dispersion features to which the effective medium approximation does not seem to simply apply.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.