Optical properties and microstructure of Ta2O5 thin films prepared by ion assisted electron beam evaporation.

An effective method for determining the refractive index of weak absorption transparent thin films was presented, which is also applicable to other weak absorption dielectric thin films. The as-deposited Ta₂O₅ thin films prepared by ion assisted electron beam evaporation showed a maxima transmittance as high as 93% which was close to that of the bare substrate, and exhibited a blue shift when the substrate temperature increased from room temperature to 250 °C. The refractive index seemed to be immune to the substrate temperature and film thickness with its value about 2.14 at incidence wavelength of 550 nm. The surface morphology measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed that the microstructures lead to the slim optical difference, which was the interplay of substrate temperature and assisted ion beam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]