Measurement of stress in aluminum film coated on a flexible substrate by the shadow moiré method.

This investigation proposes the use of the shadow moiré method (SMM) to measure stress in a thin film that is coated on a flexible substrate. The technique defines the profile of the sample by contour lines without the application of an external force, and the radius of curvature is calculated from these contour lines. The SMM is insensitive to environmental noise and has the same advantages as the interference method, such as being nondestructive and easy to use.

Annealing dependence of residual stress and optical properties of TiO2 thin film deposited by different deposition methods.

Titanium oxide (TiO(2)) thin films were prepared by different deposition methods. The methods were E-gun evaporation with ion-assisted deposition (IAD), radio-frequency (RF) ion-beam sputtering, and direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering. Residual stress was released after annealing the films deposited by RF ion-beam or DC magnetron sputtering but not evaporation, and the extinction coefficient varied significantly.

Residual stress in Ta2O5-SiO2 composite thin-film rugate filters prepared by radio frequency ion-beam sputtering.

Ta-Si oxide composite thin-film rugate filters were prepared by radio frequency ion-beam sputtering and their residual stress and substrate deflections were measured. The residual stress and substrate deflection of these composite film rugate filters were less than that of notch filters made from a series of discrete quarter-wave layers with alternate high and low indices because of the smooth modulation of composition and no interface structure of the rugate filter.