Impacts of SiO2 planarization on optical thin film properties and laser damage resistance

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Colorado State University (CSU) have co-developed a planarization process to smooth nodular defects. This process consists of individually depositing then etching tens of nanometers of SiO2 with a ratio of 2:1, respectively. Previous work shows incorporating the angular dependent ion surface etching and unidirectional deposition reduces substrate defect cross-sectional area by 90%. This work investigates the micro-structural and optical modifications of planarized SiO2 films deposited by ion beam sputtering (IBS). It is shown the planarized SiO2 thin films have ~3x increase in absorption and ~18% reduction in thin film stress as compared to control (as deposited) SiO2. Planarized SiO2 films exhibit ~13% increase in RMS surface roughness with respect to the control and super polished fused silica substrates. Laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) results indicate the planarization process has no effect on the onset fluence but alters the shape of the probability vs fluence trace.