PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AMORPHOUS ZRF4 THIN-FILMS

A series of amorphous ZrF4 thin films have been prepared by thermal evaporation in a high vacuum system, using glass plates or single crystal silicon wafers as substrates. The thickness of the films varied between similar to 0.1 and 2.5 mu m and their refractive index was 1.56 +/- 0.02. They were hygroscopic and usually degraded after: more than a half hour exposure to ambient air. The amorphous nature of the films was checked by grazing angle X-ray diffraction. Their infrared absorption spectra were recorded and the possible film structure is discussed based on the vibrational spectroscopy results.