Abstract

An apparatus for the deposition of doped, thin, amorphous films has been developed. This apparatus is based on the hyperquenching technique of Mayer (1). In this technique aqueous aerosol, i.e. water clusters, is expanded through an orifice and deposited onto a cryoplate. In Mayer’s work the aerosol was produced by an ultrasonic nebulizer and transferred with a carrier gas through an aperture and then onto the cryoplate. In our apparatus the aerosol is formed and deposited from a thermospray nozzle source (2). Use of the thermospray nozzle permits formation of films uncontaminated by condensation of a carrier gas and also permits some control of the size of clusters in the aerosol by control of the temperature differential along the source. An important point is that with this hyperquenching technique, vitrification occurs directly from the liquid state, thus facilitating the inclusion of dopants into the film.

© 1992 Optical Society of America