Optical and Mechanical Characterization of Sputtered AlN/Ag Multilayer Films
Abstract
This study explores the synthesis of ceramic/metal multilayers with a wide range of transmittance values while examining their resulting microstructure and mechanical behavior. AlN/Ag nanomultilayers are synthesized by reactive DC magnetron sputtering with either repeated bilayer thicknesses or layer thicknesses optimized for transmittance. Five structures are investigated, and all show agreement with predicted transmittance values. The measured hardness values range from 4.9 to 19.4 GPa, while the failure is brittle‐dominated fracture, independent of the Ag layer thickness. The optically optimized samples exhibit a fourfold increase in hardness and increase optical performance over the repeated bilayer samples, despite the similar deformation behavior.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Mar 15, 2019
- Source ID
- 10.1002/adem.201801268
Entities
People
- Andrea M. Hodge
- Chelsea D. Appleget
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- University of Southern California