Surface viscoelasticity studies of Gd2O3, SiO2 optical thin films and multilayers using force modulation and force–distance scanning probe microscopy

The single and multilayer of Gd2O3 and SiO2 thin films deposited through reactive electron beam evaporation have been studied for their viscoelasticity properties and optical spectral stability using multimode scanning probe microscope and spectrophotometric techniques. A conspicuous changes in viscoelasticity properties and surface topographies have been observed with the Gd2O3 films deposited under various oxygen pressures. The scanning probe measurements on the multilayer filters fabricated using these film materials for laser wavelengths of 248 nm (KrF) and 355 nm (Nd:Yag-III) have shown superior viscoelasticity property, which is not the case with the most conventional multilayers. The results were correlated with the long-term spectral stability that has been studied by recording transmittance spectra of these filters at a time interval of 10 months. Both the multilayer filters have shown excellent temporal spectral stabilities with a relatively better result for the 248 nm reflection filter. Further analysis has shown a very good co-relationship in the spectral stability and viscoelasticity properties in these multilayers.