CVD in Optical Applications

The number of oxides is large since most metallic elements form stable compounds with oxygen, either as single or mixed oxides. However, the CVD of many of these materials has yet to be investigated and generally this area of CVD has lagged behind the CVD of other ceramic materials, such as metals, carbides, or nitrides. The CVD of oxides has been slower to develop than other thin-film processes, particularly in optical applications where evaporation. 

In principle these compounds offer access to materials with AliCh-SiCL and Al203 2Si02 stoichiometries. The latter stoichiometry is equivalent to the Al[OSi(OBu-t)3 (OBu-t)] precursor. The major drawbacks with these materials are their air and moisture sensitivity, and the cost of the starting materials. Although the idealized stoichiometries of the above ceramics products are not those of crystalline aluminosilicates, amorphous aluminosilicate glasses are often important in optical applications or in scratch-resistant coatings. Furthermore, they may offer potential for CVD-type applications. There still remains considerable need for simple precursors to crystalline aluminosilicates, especially for structural applications. Dense, phase pure crystalline ceramic materials are desired for optimal mechanical properties, e.g. ceramic fibers for composite manufacture. 

The third part identifies and describes the present and potential applications of CVD in semiconductors and electronics, in optics and optoelectronics, in the coating of tools, bearings and other wear- and corrosion-resistant products, and in the automobile, aerospace, and other major industries. 

Inevitably, there is a certain degree of overlapping between these two general classifications. For instance, CVD optical applications are found as both coatings and fibers while fibers are used in optics as well as in structural and mechanical applications. These relationships will be reviewed in the several chapters on applications. 

Coatings are used on a large scale in many production applications in optics, electronics, optoelectronics, tools, wear, and erosion and others. In the case of electronics and optoelectronics, practically all CVD applications are in the form of coatings. 

The present chapter deals with the CVD of metals and some metal alloys and intermetallics. The metals are listed alphabetically. The range of applications is extensive as many of these materials play an important part in the fabrication of integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices in optoelectronic and optical applications, in corrosion protection, and in the design of structural parts. These applications are reviewed in greater depth in Chs. 13 to 19. 

Tin oxide, Sn02, has unusual physical properties. It is a good electrical conductor. It is highly transparent to the visible and highly reflective to the infrared spectrum. It is deposited extensively by CVD mostly for optical applications. Its characteristics and properties are summarized in Table 11.6. 

Potential CVD applications are beam splitter and interference layer in optical devices and detector for ethyl alcohol. 

Although there are relatively only few polymers synthesized using CVD, these polymers have found place in numerous applications in microelectronics, optical devices, biomedical industry, corrosion resistant and protective coatings, and even in the automobile industry. Any attempt to review all of these applications would be over-ambitious. In this section, a few of them are briefly discussed, selected primarily based on the number of reports available in literature. For each application, first, the requirements imposed on the candidate materials are listed. Then the rationale of choice of these polymers and the CVD process, and finally, the performance of the polymers, along with their shortcomings, are discussed. 

In addition to microelectronic and optical applications, polymers deposited using thermal and plasma assisted CVD are increasingly being used in several biomedical applications as well. For instance, drug particles microencapsulated with parylenes provide effective control release activity. Plasma polymerized tetrafiuoroethylene, parylenes and ethylene/nitrogen mixtures can be used as blood compatible materials. An excellent review of plasma polymers used in biomedical applications can be found in reference 131. 

In this section, applications will be discussed which illustrate the versatility and advantages of CVD diamond as an infrared and multi-spectral window material. We describe the use of CVD diamond optical elements including CVD diamond domes and flat plates as windows for IR seekers or imaging systems in high-speed flight or other mechanically aggressive environments. Then we describe the use of CVD diamond windows for the transmission of high-power IR laser beams. 

A CVD diamond coating is yet to be produced with the optical clarity of single-crystal diamond and, for that reason, CVD diamond has found little application so far in optics. Typically CVD diamond coatings are translucent. Some are nearly white, some have a black tinge. ... 

DLC coatings have recently reached the production stage with applications in wear and erosion protection and in optics. The cost is generally similar to that of carbide or nitride films deposited by CVD or PVD techniques. 

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has grown very rapidly in the last twenty years and applications of this fabrication process are now key elements in many industrial products, such as semiconductors, optoelectronics, optics, cutting tools, refractory fibers, filters and many others. CVD is no longer a laboratory curiosity but a maj or technology on par with other maj or technological disciplines such as electrodeposition, powder metallurgy, or conventional ceramic processing. 

The author is fortunate to have the opportunity, as a consultant, to review and study CVD processes, equipment, materials and applications for a wide cross-section of the industry, in the fields of optics, optoelectronics, metallurgy and others. He is in a position to retain an overall viewpoint difficult to obtain otherwise. 

Chemical vapor deposition (C VD) is a versatile process suitable for the manufacturing of coatings, powders, fibers, and monolithic components. With CVD, it is possible to produce most metals, many nonmetallic elements such as carbon and silicon as well as a large number of compounds including carbides, nitrides, oxides, intermetallics, and many others. This technology is now an essential factor in the manufacture of semiconductors and other electronic components, in the coating of tools, bearings, and other wear-resistant parts and in many optical, optoelectronic and corrosion applications. The market for CVD products in the U.S. and abroad is expected to reach several billions dollars by the end of the century. 

In this book, the CVD applications are classified by product functions such as electrical, opto-electrical, optical, mechanical and chemical. This classification corresponds roughly to the various segments of industry such as the electronic industry, the optical industry, the tool industry, and the chemical industry. CVD applications are also classified by product forms such as coatings, powders, fibers, monoliths, and composites. 

CVD/PVD thin films are usually considered as coatings having a thickness of less than ten microns. This is an arbitrary limitation and perhaps a better definition would be a coating that adds little if any mass to the substrate. Most thin films, in fact, are much less than 10 im and may be even less than 0.2 im in the newer semiconductor and optical designs, while some wear and erosion applications can be much thicker than 10 im. 

DLC coatings are already in production in several areas (optical and IR windows) and appear particularly well-suited for abrasion and wear applications due to their high hardness and low coefficient of friction. They have an extremely smooth surface and can be deposited with little restriction of geometry and size (as opposed to CVD diamond). These are important advantages and DLC coatings will compete actively with existing hard coatings, such as titanium carbide, titanium nitride, and other thin film... 

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