Abstract
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films produced by conventional physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques such as reactive electron beam evaporation typically have reduced packing density and refractive index. The porous and columnar microstructure of these films cause deterioration of their performance in varied environmental conditions primarily due to adsorption of water vapor. It has also been found that process variations adversely affect the reproducibility of TiO2 coatings much more severely than that of other films such as SiO2 and ZrO2. An inter-laboratory study conducted in 1986 and 1987 established that different processes and starting materials result in widely differing properties of TiO2 films.1 Such variations and rather non-controllable properties of TiO2 films present a tremendous challenge in manufacturing environment. As TiO2 is a highly useful material for multilayer optical coatings because of its high refractive index, a reproducible deposition process would be highly desirable.
© 1992 Optical Society of America
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