Optical Pattern Fabrication in Amorphous Silicon Carbide with High-Energy Focused Ion Beams

T. Tsvetkovaa, S. Takahashib, P. Sellinc, I. Gomez-Morillac, O. Angelovd, D. Dimova-Malinovskad and J. Zuke aInstitute of Solid State Physics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 72 Tzarigradsko Chaussee Blvd., 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria bCentre for Nanostructured Media, School of Mathematics and Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK cSurrey Ion Beam Centre, Advanced Technology Institute, School of Electronics and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK dCentral Laboratory for Solar Energy and New Energy Sources, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 72 Tzarigradsko Chaussee Blvd., 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria eInstitute of Physics, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, pl. M. Curie-Skłodowskiej 1, 20-031 Lublin, Poland

Full Text PDF

Topographic and optical patterns have been fabricated in a-SiC films with a focused high-energy (1 MeV) H+ and He+ ion beam and examined with near-field techniques. The patterns have been characterized with atomic force microscopy and scanning near-field optical microscopy to reveal local topography and optical absorption changes as a result of the focused high-energy ion beam induced modification. Apart of a considerable thickness change (thinning tendency), which has been observed in the ion-irradiated areas, the near-field measurements confirm increases of optical absorption in these areas. Although the size of the fabricated optical patterns is in the micron-scale, the present development of the technique allows in principle writing optical patterns up to the nano-scale (several tens of nanometers). The observed values of the optical contrast modulation are sufficient to justify the efficiency of the method for optical data recording using high-energy focused ion beams.

DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.120.56 PACS numbers: 41.75.Ak, 42.70.Ln, 68.37.Uv, 73.61.Jc