Speaker
Description
The quality, durability, and efficiency of a thin film heavily depend on surface cleaning procedures, deposition mechanisms, and pre- and/or post-deposition heat treatment. The annealing process, in turn, allows for the molecular rearrangement of the film, promoting its molecular chains to attain their most stable state possible, which can enhance the aforementioned properties. This study reports the results obtained for different annealing temperatures at fixed times. The selected samples underwent a standard cleaning procedure using a 3% Extran solution in deionized water, followed by drying with $N_2$ and oven-drying at 100 ºC for 3 hours. The deposition method employed was Vacuum Thermal Evaporation, conducted under a vacuum of approximately $1.5 × 10^{-5}$ mbar, with the substrate rotating and samples placed centrally on the substrate. Two standard samples were selected as control parameters, with their crystalline and morphological structures examined via atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). For the crystalline structure analyses was utilized a XRD Shimadzu LabX XRD-6000 equipment, using Cukα radiation. The experiment was done in Bragg-Bretano geometry with θ−2θ scan. For the morphological analyzing, was utilized an AFM Veeco Innova equipment, with $(4.0 × 4.0)~μm^2$ scanning of sample surfaces. For the annealing procedure, a muffle furnace programmed with specific heating ramps for each selected annealing temperature was used. All annealed samples had their crystalline and morphological structures examined before and after the annealing process to investigate the effects of thermal treatment on the molecular reorganization of the PTP layer on the surface. Efficiency analyses are being conducted using a vacuum monochromator equipped with a deuterium lamp, generating monochromatic light ranging from 110 nm to 400 nm in wavelength. Additionally, the annealed samples are undergoing cryogenic immersion to study the films adhesion behavior throughout the annealing process. Preliminary results are currently being acquired and analyzed, aiming to understand whether these procedures can contribute to optimizing the adhesion mechanisms and efficiency of the film on the dichroic filter surface.
