Reactively evaporated multilayer antireflection coatings for Ge optical window

Two multilayer antireflection (AR) coating configurations are designed, prepared and characterized. These AR coatings are designed for a 1 mm thick Ge optical window in the 3.25-5.25 μm band. Ta2O5 and TiO2 are used as high index materials along with SiO2 as low index material. Configuration 1 comprises nine alternating layers of SiO2 and Ta2O5, whereas configuration 2 comprises seven alternating layers of SiO2 and TiO2. Post-deposition annealing is also carried out in the temperature range 150-450 deg. C for 10 h. The prepared multilayered structures are characterized optically and structurally using a spectrophotometer, an atomic force microscope, x-ray diffraction and a scanning electron microscope. Optical characterization shows that multilayered structures have high absorption for as-deposited samples. A considerable improvement in the transmission profiles for the two multilayered configurations is observed at 350 deg. C with peak and average transmission for both the configurations exceeding 90%. The as-prepared samples show predominantly amorphous-like structure with pronounced peaks for configuration 2 only. Delamination (for configuration 1) and cracking (for configuration 2) of the multilayered structures are witnessed at an annealing temperature of 450 deg. C