Abstract
Ion-assisted deposition (IAD) has been widely studied as a means of improving the properties of optical thin films.1 Metal fluorides are a case in point, with MgF2 in particular being studied by several groups. Oxygen is a major impurity in IAD fluoride films; however, the nature of the oxygen incorporation has remained unresolved. In order to gain insight into the IAD process with metal fluorides, we have extensively studied the IAD of LaF3.2 A major advantage of LaF3 in this work is its highly crystalline nature, even when deposited onto ambient temperature substrates. Our results with LaF3 have clarified the nature of the oxygen incorporation in fluoride films. Identical results have been observed with CeF3 and NdF3 thin films, which are also highly crystalline.3 While we have also studied MgF2 and other low-index fluorides,3 the lack of x-ray diffraction peaks with these materials has prevented us from making similar direct observations; however, we expect the nature of the oxygen incorporation to be very similar for these materials.
© 1988 Optical Society of America
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