STUDIES ON THE PROPERTIES OF ZIRCONIA FILMS PREPARED BY DIRECT-CURRENT REACTIVE MAGNETRON SPUTTERING

This paper deals with the preparation of zirconia films by direct current reactive magnetron sputtering. The films were annealed in ambient atmosphere at temperatures ranging from 300 to 850-degrees-C. The as deposited films were found to be amorphous and a crystalline structure developed at 400-degrees-C. The refractive index and extinction coefficient were found to be 1.93 and 0.5 x 10(-3) at 600 nm for the as deposited films and they changed to 1.71 and 2.5 x 10(-3) on annealing at 850-degrees-C. The optical constants were found to be constant in the wavelength region beyond 400 nm, below which dispersion was observed.