Dispersion of nanospheres on large glass substrate by amorphous or polycrystalline silicon deposition for localized surface plasmon resonance

Nanosphere lithography is a cost-effective way to fabricate noble metal nanostructures for plasmonics. However, dispersing nanospheres on a large area of glass substrate is a difficulty encountered when transparent substrate is required in applications such as localized surface plasmon resonance or surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Because poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride) (PDDA) on silicon surface introduces a force that can disperse nanospheres on silicon, in this article, we modify the glass surface through amorphous or polycrystalline silicon deposition and thus well disperse polystyrene or silica nanospheres over a glass area of more than 2 cm × 2 cm. Transmission loss of the glass substrate caused by amorphous or polycrystalline silicon deposition is analyzed with good agreement to experimental spectra, and localized surface plasmon resonance signals generated from the gold nanostructures fabricated on these substrates are measured and yield a sensitivity of 317 nm/RIU, which prove the feasibility and effectiveness of our method.     

Mechanical and optical properties of CNx films with high N/C ratio

Nitrogen-rich carbon nitride films were prepared by three different deposition methods on fused silica, stainless steel and silicon cantilever substrates. Their optical properties were studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry and UV spectrometry. Mechanical properties such as plastic and Vickers microhardness, Young’s modulus, adhesion and film stress were also tested. The results were compared with the properties of films with lower nitrogen concentrations. Received: 26 January 2001 / Accepted: 29 January 2001 / Published online: 3 May 2001     

Large scale ordered topographical and chemical nano-features from anodic alumina templates

We have used ordered anodic alumina membranes as masks to create large scale ordered arrays of either holes or chemical islands on silica. Regularly spaced holes were obtained by direct etching of silica/silicon or glass substrates through the membranes used as etching masks. To create an array of chemically functional islands, the membrane is first glued on the substrate using a soft polymer and subsequently the polymer is etched gently though the mask. Finally organo-silane molecules are deposited through the alumina/polymer hybrid mask and the mask is removed chemically leaving nanoislands on the substrate. We anticipate that this technique will be useful in future biological and biomedical applications.     

富硅氮化硅薄膜的制备及其光学带隙研究

采用双极脉冲磁控反应溅射法在不同参数条件下制备了一系列氮化硅薄膜。利用数字式显微镜和紫外-可见光光谱仪研究了沉积薄膜的表面形貌及其光学带隙,利用共焦显微拉曼光谱仪比较了硅衬底、氮化硅薄膜退火前后的拉曼光谱。结果表明,氮气流量对薄膜的光学带隙影响较大,制备的薄膜主要为富硅氮化硅薄膜。原沉积薄膜的拉曼光谱存在明显的非晶硅和单晶硅峰,退火处理后非晶硅峰减弱或消失,表明薄膜出现明显的结晶化;单晶硅峰出现频移现象,表明薄膜中出现硅纳米颗粒,平均尺寸约为6.6 nm。     

Hard carbon coatings deposited on steel

We report results of steel substrates coated with hard amorphous carbon and with diamond films. In order to enhance the adherence to the substrate, steel substrates were pretreated by means of a silicon ion beam. Raman spectroscopy was used to analyze the structure of silicon interface while the elastic recoil detection analysis method was applied to determine their composition and thickness. The a-C adherence to the substrate and hardness were also tested. The diamond films were observed by SEM.     

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利用微波电子回旋共振等离子体增强型化学气相沉积(ECR-PECVD)采用一步法直接在K9玻璃上低温沉积制备了多晶硅薄膜.研究了不同实验参数对薄膜沉积的影响,采用X射线衍射(XRD)、拉曼光谱、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)等实验分析方法对不同条件下制备的样品进行了晶体结构和表面形貌分析,并讨论了多晶硅薄膜沉积的最佳条件.实验结果表明,玻璃衬底上多晶硅薄膜呈柱状生长,并有一定厚度的非晶孵化层;较高氢气比例和衬底温度有利于结晶,薄膜的结晶率达到了62％;晶粒团簇的最大尺寸约为500nm.     

The influence of using different substrates on the structural and optical characteristics of ZnO thin films

ZnO thin films with thikness d = 100 nm were deposited onto different substrates such as glass, kapton, and silicon by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The structural analyses of the films indicate they are polycrystalline and have a wurtzite (hexagonal) structure.The ZnO layer deposited on kapton substrate shows a stronger orientation of the crystallites with (0 0 2) plane parallel to the substrate surface, as compared with the other two samples of ZnO deposited on glass and silicon, respectively.All three layers have nanometer-scale values for roughness, namely 1.7 nm for ZnO/glass, 2.4 nm for ZnO/silicon, and 6.8 nm for ZnO/kapton. The higher value for the ZnO layer deposited on kapton substrate makes this sample suitable for solar cells applications. Transmission spectra of these thin films are strongly influenced by deposition conditions. With our deposition conditions the transparent conducting ZnO layer has a good transmission (78-88%) in VIS and NIR domains. The values of the energy gap calculated from the absorption spectra are 3.23 eV for ZnO sample deposited onto glass substrate and 3.30 eV for the ZnO sample deposited onto kapton polymer foil substrate. The influence of deposition arrangement and oxidation conditions on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of the ZnO films is discussed in the present paper.     

Highly ordered periodic array of metallic nanodots fabricated through template‐assisted nanopatterning and its use for surface‐enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy of flexible crystalline‐silicon nanomembranes

We report on the fabrication of highly uniform periodic arrays of metallic nanodots formed on glass substrates through a facile anodic aluminum oxide template‐assisted process and their use in selective surface‐enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy to probe the structural properties of flexible crystalline‐silicon nanomembranes deposited on polymer substrates. A 14‐fold enhancement in Raman scattering was observed from the thin flexible silicon membranes deposited on polyethylene terephthalate substrates, which were used to probe the internal strains in the silicon nanomembrane as a function of the bending radius. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ge nanoclusters in PECVD-deposited glass after heat treatment and electron-beam irradiation

This paper reports the formation of Ge nanoclusters in silica glass thin films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). We studied the samples by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy after annealing. TEM investigation shows that the Ge nanoclusters at two areas were formed by different mechanisms. The Ge nanoclusters formed in a single row along the interface of a silicon substrate and the silica glass film by annealing during high-temperature heat treatment. Ge nanoclusters did not initially form in the bulk of the film but could be subsequently formed by the electron-beam irradiation. The interface between the silicon substrate and the silica glass film was investigated by Raman spectroscopy. The shift of the Raman peaks around 286.8 cm^-1 and 495 cm^-1 suggests that the interface is a Si_1-xGe_x alloy film and that the composition x varies along the film growth direction. PACS 81.07.Bc; 78.66.Jg; 42.65.Wi     

椭偏精确测定透明衬底上吸收薄膜的厚度及光学常数

椭偏仪难以精确测量透明衬底上吸收薄膜光学常数的原因:1)衬底的背面反射光为非相干光, 它的存在会极大的增加拟合难度; 2)衬底光学常数(折射率和消光系数)的差异会影响测量的准确性, 而且会在吸收薄膜的光学常数中表现出来, 需要单独测量其光学常数; 3)厚度与光学常数之间呈现强烈的关联性. 针对以上三个问题, 选择石英玻璃、载玻片、盖玻片和普通浮法玻璃作为研究对象. 采用折射率匹配法消除上述衬底背面反射光的影响. 结果显示, 折射率匹配法能够有效消除折射率在1.43-1.64、波长范围为190-1700 nm波段的石英、浮法玻璃等透明衬底的背面反射光. 之后, 通过拟合椭偏参数ψ和垂直入射时的透过率T₀ 分别得到以上衬底的折射率和消光系数. 拟合得到的结果与文献报道的趋势一致. 最后, 采用椭偏参数和透过率同时拟合的方法(SE+T法)得到类金刚石薄膜(沉积在石英玻璃上)和非晶硅薄膜(沉积在载玻片、盖玻片上)光学常数和厚度的准确解.     

Structural study of TiO2 thin films by micro-Raman spectroscopy

The Raman spectroscopy method was used for structural characterization of TiO₂ thin films prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on fused silica and single-crystal silicon and sapphire substrates. Using ALD, anatase thin films were grown on silica and silicon substrates at temperatures 125–425 °C. At higher deposition temperatures, mixed anatase and rutile phases grew on these substrates. Post-growth annealing resulted in anatase-to-rutile phase transitions at 750 °C in the case of pure anatase films. The films that contained chlorine residues and were amorphous in their as-grown stage transformed into anatase phase at 400 °C and retained this phase even after annealing at 900 °C. On single crystal sapphire substrates, phase-pure rutile films were obtained by ALD at 425 °C and higher temperatures without additional annealing. Thin films that predominantly contained brookite phase were grown by PLD on silica substrates using rutile as a starting material.     

Acoustic substrate expansion in modelling dry laser cleaning of low absorbing substrates

Acoustic expressions have been derived for the thermal expansion of substrate surfaces due to irradiation by an exponential laser pulse. The result of acoustic effects on three substrates (silicon, glass and silica) with different absorptions has been calculated.It has been shown that for substrates having relatively low absorptions, like silica and glass, acoustic considerations substantially reduce thermal expansion of the substrate caused by irradiation by nanosecond laser pulses relative to a quasi-static expansion model. In particular, the expansion of the substrate occurs over a much longer time frame than when the quasi-static approximation holds. Consequently, acceleration of the substrate surface is greatly reduced and laser cleaning threshold fluences for particle removal are increased.The predictions of the model of Arnold et al. when developed for acoustic considerations give reasonable agreement with experimentally found threshold fluences for alumina particles on silica and glass substrates although it underestimates the ratio of the threshold cleaning fluences of silica and glass. This could be due to the model underestimating the contribution of surface expansion to the laser cleaning process. The influence of multiple reflections in the substrate and departure from one dimensionality in the heat conduction on the threshold fluence was found to be insignificant. Thermal contact between the particle and the substrate was also found to have little effect on laser cleaning threshold fluences. Another mechanism that may enhance surface expansion is the 3D focussing of radiation by the particles. PACS 42.62.Cf; 81.65.Cf; 42.55.Lt     

热透镜技术中反射和透射两种探测方式的比较分析

热透镜技术按照测量方式的不同可以分为反射式和透射式两种。这两种方式的灵敏度强烈地依赖于样品的热物理性质,对于不同的样品,选择合适的测量构型尤为重要。采用高斯激光束作为加热光源,分别从理论和实验上比较分析了模式不匹配的反射式和透射式两种热透镜探测构型在测量以BK7玻璃和石英为基底的高反射光学薄膜弱吸收中的应用,结果表明,对以BK7玻璃为基底的样品,采用反射式探测构型具有较高的灵敏度,而对以石英为基底的样品而言,采用透射式探测构型则具有更高的灵敏度,为实际光学薄膜吸收损耗测试灵敏度的提高提供了理论和实验依据。     

Optical and structural properties of polycrystalline CVD diamond films grown on fused silica optical fibres pre-treated by high-power sonication seeding

In this paper, the growth of polycrystalline chemical vapour deposition (CVD) diamond thin films on fused silica optical fibres has been investigated. The research results show that the effective substrate seeding process can lower defect nucleation, and it simultaneously increases surface encapsulation. However, the growth process on glass requires high seeding density. The effects of suspension type and ultrasonic power were the specific objects of investigation. In order to increase the diamond density, glass substrates were seeded using a high-power sonication process. The highest applied power of sonotrode reached 72 W during the performed experiments. The two, most common diamond seeding suspensions were used, i.e. detonation nanodiamond dispersed in (a) dimethyl sulfoxide and (b) deionised water. The CVD diamond nucleation and growth processes were performed using microwave plasma assisted chemical vapour deposition system. Next, the seeding efficiency was determined and compared using the numerical analysis of scanning electron microscopy images. The molecular composition of nucleated diamond was examined with micro-Raman spectroscopy. The sp³/sp² band ratio was calculated using Raman spectra deconvolution method. Thickness, roughness, and optical properties of the nanodiamond films in UV–vis wavelength range were investigated by means of spectroscopic ellipsometry. It has been demonstrated that the high-power sonication process can improve the seeding efficiency on glass substrates. However, it can also cause significant erosion defects at the fibre surface. We believe that the proposed growth method can be effectively applied to manufacture the novel optical fibre sensors. Due to high chemical and mechanical resistance of CVD diamond films, deposition of such films on the sensors is highly desirable. This method enables omitting the deposition of an additional adhesion interlayer at the glass–nanocrystalline interface, and thus potentially increases transmittance of the optical system.     

Direct laser fabrication of blaze gratings in fused silica

Results of our investigations on direct laser fabrication of blaze gratings in fused silica using a special fluorine-laser mask projection technology allowing to produce plane and smooth reflecting areas and optimum blaze geometry will be presented. In particular, it will be shown that gratings with nearly optimum blaze geometry and relatively low surface roughness of the reflecting areas can be produced. The technique is a one-step method and has a high variability with regard to grating geometry and also substrate materials. We use masks made of tantalum foil, projected onto a fused silica substrate surface with a demagnification ratio of 26:1 and also novel scattering masks made of calcium fluoride. In these masks, up to 25 times smaller transmission apertures can be manufactured allowing thus grating constants in the range of a few μm. The average surface roughness of the reflecting areas along a blaze grating line was measured to be R _a=38 nm without any surface smoothing. The maximum variance of the blaze angle within one grating is about 0.5 degree.     

Sulfide-assisted growth of silicon nano-wires by thermal evaporation of sulfur powders

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) with a diameter of 20 nm were synthesized by the thermal evaporation of sulfur powders on silicon wafers. The source of the SiNWs came from the silicon substrates. It is considered that the generated SiS compound assisted the formation of SiNWs. Finally, the Raman shift of SiNWs was discussed.     

Electrophysical properties of dielectric films in MDM-structures

Using the methods of reactive cathode sputtering in a low-voltage, penning-discharge installation, dielectric films from silica, silicon nitride, aluminum nitride, etc. are obtained. Parameters of the films in MDM structures, their optical properties and porosity are investigated as a function of the deposition rate, substrate temperature and reaction gas pressure. It is found out that the films from silicon nitride exhibit the highest dielectric strength and those from silicon dioxide show the least dielectric loss.     

立方氮化硼薄膜生长过程中的界面控制

在立方氮化硼薄膜气相生长过程中生成的无定形初期层和乱层结构氮化硼中间层，一直是阻碍立方氮化硼薄膜外延生长的主要原因.系统地分析了硅衬底预处理对立方氮化硼薄膜中无定形初期层成分的影响，发现在等离子体化学气相生长法制备薄膜时，硅衬底上形成无定形初期层的可能原因有氧的存在、离子轰击以及高温下硅的氮化物的形成.在H₂气氛中1200K热处理硅衬底可以有效地减少真空室中残留氧浓度，除去硅表面的自然氧化层，保持硅衬底表面晶体结构.控制衬底温度不超过900 K，就能防止硅的氮化物的形成，成功地除去无 关键词： 立方氮化硼薄膜 等离子体化学气相生长 界面 电子显微镜     

Nanosphere dispersion on a large glass substrate by low dose ion implantation for localized surface plasmon resonance

Dispersing nanospheres on a large glass substrate is the key to fabricate noble metal nanostructures for localized surface plasmon resonance through dispersed nanosphere lithography. This article reports that by modifying the glass surface with low dose ion implantation and successively dip coating the surface with poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride) (PDDA), polystyrene or silica nanospheres can be dispersed on a large glass substrate. Investigation shows that several kinds of ions, such as silicon, boron, argon, and arsenic, can improve the nanosphere dispersion on glass, attributed to the ion bombardment-caused silicon increment. Ion implantation imposes no surface roughness or optical loss to the glass substrate, thus this method is suitable for localized surface plasmon resonance application. Experiments show silicon ion implantation can best disperse the nanospheres. For the gold nanostructures obtained by obliquely evaporating 30 nm of gold film onto the polystyrene nanospheres, which are dispersed on a silicon ion implanted glass substrate, a localized surface plasmon resonance sensitivity of 242 nm/RIU is achieved.     

ZrO2／SiO2多层膜中膜厚组合周期数及基底材料对残余应力的影响

ZrO₂／SiO₂多层膜由相同沉积条件下的电子束蒸发方法制备而成， 通过改变多层膜中高(ZrO₂)、低(SiO₂)折射率材料膜厚组合周期数的方法，研究了沉积 在熔石英和BK7玻璃 基底上多层膜中残余应力的变化. 用ZYGO光学干涉仪测量了基底镀膜前后曲率半径的变化， 并确定了薄膜中的残余应力. 结果发现，该多层膜中的残余应力为压应力，随着薄膜中膜厚 组合周期数的增加，压应力值逐渐减小. 而且在相同条件下，石英基底上所沉积多层膜中的 压应力值要小于BK7玻璃基底上所沉积多层膜中的压应力值. 用x射线衍射技术测量分析了膜 厚组合周期数不同的ZrO₂／SiO₂多层膜微结构，发现随着周期数增 加，多层膜的结晶程 度增强. 同时多层膜的微结构应变表现出了与所测应力不一致的变化趋势，这主要是由多层 膜中，膜层界面之间复杂的相互作用引起的. 关键词： 2／SiO₂多层膜')" href="#">ZrO₂／SiO₂多层膜 残余应力 膜厚组合周期数