Antireflection Coating on PMMA Substrates by Atomic Layer Deposition
Source abstract
Abstract
Antireflection coatings (ARC) are essential for various optical components including such made of plastics for high volume applications. However, precision coatings on plastics are rather challenging due to typically low adhesion of the coating to the substrate. In this work, optimization of the atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes towards conformal optical thin films of Al2O3, TiO2 and SiO2 on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) has been carried out and a five-layer ARC is demonstrated. While the uncoated PMMA substrates have a reflectance of nearly 8% in the visible (VIS) spectral range, this is reduced below 1.2% for the spectral range of 420–670 nm by applying a double-side ARC. The total average reflectance is 0.7%. The optimized ALD coatings show a good adhesion to the PMMA substrates even after the climate test. Microscopic analysis on the cross-hatch areas on PMMA after the climate test indicates very good environmental stability of the ALD coatings. These results enable a possible route by ALD to deposit uniform, crack free, adhesive and environmentally durable thin film layers on sensitive thermoplastics like PMMA.
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: Semiconductor materials and devices · Optical Coatings and Gratings · Thin-Film Transistor Technologies
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Institute of Applied Physics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Albert Einstein Str. 15, 07745 Jena, Germany
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, Albert Einstein Str. 7, 07745 Jena, Germany
Funding
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft · Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung · Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie · Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
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