Optical characterization of a-As{sub 2}S{sub 3} thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering

Journal Article · Mon Feb 15 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3295908· OSTI ID:21476125

Tan, W C; Solmaz, M E; Gardner, J; Atkins, R; Madsen, C ^[1]

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1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A and M University, 214 Zachry Engineering Center, College Station, Texas 77843-3128 (United States)

It is well known that thermally evaporated a-As{sub 2}S{sub 3} thin films are prone to oxidation when exposed to ambient environment. These As{sub 2}O{sub 3} crystals can have a devastating effect on propagating light by introducing a major source of scattering loss in submicron optically integrated circuits. Magnetron sputtering a-As{sub 2}S{sub 3} not only produces films that have optical properties closer to their equilibrium state like their bulk glass counter parts, the as-deposited films also show no detectable signs of As{sub 2}O{sub 3} crystals in them when they are exposed to the ambient environment. These attributes are unique to a magnetron sputtered a-As{sub 2}S{sub 3} film and are probably caused by the ''photoannealing'' effect from the visible light emitted by the argon plasma during the sputtering process. The optical properties of a magnetron sputtered a-As{sub 2}S{sub 3} film and its propagation loss on a Ti diffused LiNbO{sub 3} waveguide are reported here. The thin film results agree closely with published data on As{sub 2}S{sub 3} bulk glass, and the optical properties of the as-deposited film are found to be closer to its bulk glass values than films made by thermal evaporation and pulsed laser deposition. The TM propagation loss at {lambda}=1.5 {mu}m of the as-deposited a-As{sub 2}S{sub 3} waveguide on Ti:LiNbO{sub 3} was 0.20{+-}0.05 dB/cm.

• OSTI ID: 21476125
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 107, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3295908; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANNEALING
ARSENIC OXIDES
ARSENIC SULFIDES
CRYSTALS
ENERGY BEAM DEPOSITION
EVAPORATION
GLASS
LASER RADIATION
LIGHT TRANSMISSION
LITHIUM COMPOUNDS
NIOBATES
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
OXIDATION
PLASMA
PULSED IRRADIATION
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SPUTTERING
THIN FILMS
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ARSENIC COMPOUNDS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DEPOSITION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
FILMS
HEAT TREATMENTS
IRRADIATION
MATERIALS
NIOBIUM COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATIONS
REFRACTORY METAL COMPOUNDS
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SURFACE COATING
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
TRANSMISSION