Properties of Silicon Oxynitride and Aluminum Oxynitride Coatings Deposited Using Ion Assisted Deposition

Abstract

Optical thin films of nitrides, oxynitrides and oxides of aluminum and silicon were deposited using ion assisted deposition. Coatings were deposited by thermal evaporation of AlN and e-beam evaporation of Si with simultaneous bombardment with 300 eV ions of nitrogen, a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen or oxygen. The chemical composition and the index of refraction of the coating was varied by varying the gas mixture in the ion beam. Optical properties of and environmental stability of coatings were examined. Results indicated that coatings are stable even under severe conditions of humidity and temperature.

Critical evaluation of the state of the art of the analysis of light elements in thin films demonstrated using the examples of SiOXNY and AlOXNY films (IUPAC Technical Report)

“…Here, the authors stress that the effective media approximation (EMA) is only a crude approximation while the films actually are most probably atomic mixtures of Si, O, and N. Since the results of this model were good, this discrepancy was not further checked. In an earlier publication [18], the optical properties of SiO X N Y and AlO X N Y films were investigated by spectral transmittance measured by a spectrophotometer. In this publication, a SiO X sample was investigated ellipsometrically and the refractive index and the extinction coefficient of bulk SiO 2 and SiO are given in a diagram.…”

“…With this background, NRA was the main tool used in this publication, because of the high sensitivity and selectivity that could be achieved by this method. The total amounts of 2 H (D), 14 N, 15 N, 16 O, and 18 O were determined using the cross-section "plateaus" of the following reactions: 2 H( 3 He,p) 4 15 N, were also mentioned. The total amount of 1 H was S. DREER AND P. WILHARTITZ detected by the resonance given above or by ERDA.…”

“…NRA was used in [161] to determine the total 15 N, 16 O, and 18 O amount in the samples. The plateaus of the differential cross-section curves for the reactions 15 N(p,αγ) 12 C at 1 MeV, 16 O(d,p 0 ) 17 O at 810 keV, and 18 O(p,α 0 ) 15 N at 730 keV.…”

“…The plateaus of the differential cross-section curves for the reactions 15 N(p,αγ) 12 C at 1 MeV, 16 O(d,p 0 ) 17 O at 810 keV, and 18 O(p,α 0 ) 15 N at 730 keV. The authors of this article state that convenient standards were used.…”

“…The film thickness was estimated by the results. Depth profiles were obtained by using the narrow nuclear resonance reactions 15 N(p,αγ) 12 C at 429 keV, 18 O(p,α) 15 N at 151 keV, and 29 Si(p,γ) 30 P at 414 keV. The resolution of the depth profiles obtained is given as 1 nm near the film surface.…”