Abstract

As low refractive index materials in visible wavelength SiO₂, MgF₂, and Na₃AlF₆ have been used in the optical thin film coatings. While MgF₂ and Na₃AlF₆ films have lower refractive index than SiO₂ films, their mechanical properties are not as good as SiO₂ films. On the other hand, in the semiconductor industry fluorine-doped SiO₂ (SiO_xF_y) films prepared by the CVD method have been developed as an inorganic low-dielectric constant material.^[1] In this study, we fabricated SiO_xF_y films by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) to utilize them in the optical coatings as a low index material with a better mechanical property and investigated the optical, mechanical, chemical properties of SiO_xF_y films.

© 1998 Optical Society of America