Effects of fixture rotation on coating uniformity for high-performance optical filter fabrication

Binyamin Rubin; Jason George; Riju Singhal

doi:10.1515/aot-2017-0085

Article

Effects of fixture rotation on coating uniformity for high-performance optical filter fabrication

Binyamin Rubin
Binyamin Rubin obtained his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and MSc and BSc from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He has 10 years of experience developing ion thrusters for space propulsion and 6 years of experience developing ion beam deposition equipment for optical coatings.
, Jason George
Jason George obtained his BS in Chemistry from the University of Florida and his MS in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University. Jason has over 17 years of optical coating and vacuum technology experience and has worked for Veeco for 16 years in various roles and responsibilities.
and Riju Singhal
Riju Singhal obtained his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University in 2012, and a B-Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 2007. He has 5 years of experience in coating technologies including chemical vapor deposition and ion beam sputtering. He has been working with Veeco Instruments for the past 2.5 years in a technical product marketing role for the development of ion beam deposition equipment for optical coatings.

Published/Copyright: March 15, 2018

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From the journal Advanced Optical Technologies Volume 7 Issue 1-2

Abstract

Coating uniformity is critical in fabricating high-performance optical filters by various vacuum deposition methods. Simple and planetary rotation systems with shadow masks are used to achieve the required uniformity [J. B. Oliver and D. Talbot, Appl. Optics 45, 13, 3097 (2006); O. Lyngnes, K. Kraus, A. Ode and T. Erguder, in ‘Method for Designing Coating Thickness Uniformity Shadow Masks for Deposition Systems with a Planetary Fixture’, 2014 Technical Conference Proceedings, Optical Coatings, August 13, 2014, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14332/svc14.proc.1817.]. In this work, we discuss the effect of rotation pattern and speed on thickness uniformity in an ion beam sputter deposition system. Numerical modeling is used to determine statistical distribution of random thickness errors in coating layers. The relationship between thickness tolerance and production yield are simulated theoretically and demonstrated experimentally. Production yields for different optical filters produced in an ion beam deposition system with planetary rotation are presented. Single-wavelength and broadband optical monitoring systems were used for endpoint monitoring during filter deposition. Limitations of thickness tolerances that can be achieved in systems with planetary rotation are shown. Paths for improving production yield in an ion beam deposition system are described.

Keywords: bandpass filters; ion beam deposition; optical coatings; planetary rotation; uniformity

About the authors

Binyamin Rubin

Binyamin Rubin obtained his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and MSc and BSc from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He has 10 years of experience developing ion thrusters for space propulsion and 6 years of experience developing ion beam deposition equipment for optical coatings.

Jason George

Jason George obtained his BS in Chemistry from the University of Florida and his MS in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University. Jason has over 17 years of optical coating and vacuum technology experience and has worked for Veeco for 16 years in various roles and responsibilities.

Riju Singhal

Riju Singhal obtained his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University in 2012, and a B-Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 2007. He has 5 years of experience in coating technologies including chemical vapor deposition and ion beam sputtering. He has been working with Veeco Instruments for the past 2.5 years in a technical product marketing role for the development of ion beam deposition equipment for optical coatings.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Hector Castillo (Veeco Instruments, Inc.) for the help with the fabrication of the large-area single rotational axis fixture OGP measurements of the grids were not used in this work.

Author contributions: Binyamin Rubin performed all the simulations and experiments. Riju Singhal and Binyamin Rubin drafted the manuscript. Jason George supervised the entire work.
Competing interest: The authors declare no competing interest.

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Received: 2017-11-30

Accepted: 2018-2-15

Published Online: 2018-3-15

Published in Print: 2018-4-25

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/aot-2017-0085

Keywords for this article

bandpass filters; ion beam deposition; optical coatings; planetary rotation; uniformity