Effect of high intensity short-pulsed ion irradiation on optical properties of multilayer coatings of aluminum and silicon nitrides

Abstract

The effect of high-intensity short-pulsed ion irradiation on the optical properties of multilayer coatings, consisting from thin layers of aluminum and silicon nitrides, deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering on glass, steel and silicon substrates, has been investigated. The larger the thickness of AlN layers, the stronger the effect of growth and radiation defects on multilayer coating properties. When the concentration of growth defects increases and its interaction intensifies, the radiation resistance of coatings grows. In general, the radiation resistance of coatings was due to the wide band gap of their constituent nitrides and the high concentration of strongly interacting growth defects distributed along the inter-crystallite and interlayer boundaries.